Clinicopathologic studies of keratoplasty eyes obtained surgically.

Seventy-two keratoplasty eyes obtained surgically from 72 patients were examined histopathologically. The age at the time of enucleation ranged between 2 months and 91 years, with an average of 47.2 years. The 72 eyes were placed in five categories according to the surgical procedures performed: (a) 20 eyes with a penetrating keratoplasty as the only intraocular operation; (b) nine eyes with two or more penetrating keratoplasties; (c) 29 eyes with one or more keratoplasties with other procedures performed at the same time or another time; (d) nine eyes with lamellar keratoplasties; (e) five eyes with tectonic keratoplasties. The corneas were perforated at the time of keratoplasty in 15 eyes (20.8%). The average age at the first keratoplasty was 45.1 years. Overall, the most frequent causes of enucleation were secondary glaucoma (45.8%), melting of the graft (13.9%), exogenous endophthalmitis (12.5%), and trauma (8.3%). An expulsive hemorrhage occurred in 5.6% of eyes.