Corneal Thickness in Pigs Measured by Ultrasound Pachymetry In Vivo

Corneal transplantation is the most frequently performed type of tissue grafting (George & Larkin, 2004). It is a highly successful treatment of severe corneal disease. However, transplantation of tissue and organs in humans has a major setback: availability of donors. To solve this, there are currently many studies on the possible use of the pig as a source of hearts, kidneys, livers, Islets of Langerhans etc. for transplantation to humans (Tai et al., 2007; Cox & Zhong, 2005; Zhong, 2007). Because of the unique immune privilege of the anterior chamber, corneal grafting may be the most likely xenotransplantation to succeed. This makes the pig eye a particularly interesting experimental model. In the course of corneal transplantation, corneal thickness is a valuable indicator of graft failure and early rejection. Reliable reference material on the corneal thickness of the pig, however, does not exist. This study was conducted to investigate the normal thickness and diameter of the pig cornea.