Focus On

To assess and verify the safety, quality and efficiency  of cornea transplantation. This is the aim of ECCTR (European Cornea and Cell Transplantation Registry), a project born to build a common assessment methodology and establish an EU web-based registry and network for academics, health professionals and authorities about cornea transplantation.

Fondazione Banca degli Occhi del Veneto Onlus (Veneto Eye Bank Foundation) is one of the partners of this project with European Eye Bank Association, European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, European Society of Cornea and Ocular Surface Disease Specialists, NHS Blood and Transplant, Nederlandse Transplantatie Stichting, University of Maastricht and Blekinge Lans Landsting. The project is a three-year programme, with development of an EU web registry in the first year, followed by recruitment of clinics and eye banks and collection of data in the second year. Evaluation of the collected data and development of an evidence-based European protocol will take place in year three, and results will also be disseminated at a final conference.

The European Registry will give a unique opportunity to monitor and compare results about eye banks and surge on activity with all the centers involved. The registry  works to promote quality improvement and provide a benchmark for comparing and demonstrating good practice, to monitor changes in the indications for corneal transplantation and provide clinical outcome data when new surgical procedures are introduced, also working as a quality control, providing feedback to surgeons, clinics, governments and patients. The project can improve clinical activity using patient-reported and clinical data.