AUTHOR=Gemelli Carley N. , Mondy Phillip , Kakkos Athina , O’Donovan Justine , Diaz Perfecto , Knight Elizabeth , Hirani Rena 

TITLE=Patient-reported outcomes of serum eye drops manufactured from Australian blood donations and packaged using Meise vials

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1252688

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1252688

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Introduction:  Serum eye drops (SED) are an effective treatment for dry eye syndrome.  However, autologous serum collection can have challenges.  Patient-tailored (allogeneic) SED (PT-SED) can be made from healthy blood donors.  Australian Red Cross Lifeblood has manufactured both autologous SED (Auto-SED) and PT-SED and in May 2021, introduced Meise vial packaging.  This study aimed to explore SED patient-reported outcomes and vial packaging satisfaction.
Methods:  A prospective cohort study was conducted with recruitment between 1 November 2021 and 30 June 2022.  Participants completed the dry eye questionnaire (DEQ5), health-related quality-of-life (SF-8TM), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT-TS-G) and general wellbeing surveys.  Existing patients completed these once and new patients were surveyed at baseline, 3- and 6-months post-treatment.
Results:  Participants who completed all study requirements were 24 existing and 40 new Auto-SED and 10 existing and 8 new PT-SED patients.  Auto-SED patients were younger (56.2(±14.7) years) than PT-SED patients (71.4(± 10.0) years).  Participants used a mean of 1.8(±1.1) SED drops, 5.3(± 2.9) times per day.  In new patients, DEQ5 scores improved within 6-months from 14.0(±2.9) to 10.6(±3.4) for Auto-SED and from 12.9(±3.7) to 11.4(±2.8) for PT-SED.  General wellbeing measures improved in new Auto-SED from 7.0(±1.9) to 7.8(±1.7) but reduced for new PT-SED from 6.7(±2.9) to 6.1(±2.9).
Discussion:  SED improved dry eye symptoms in most patients regardless of the serum source.  Patients using PT-SED showed decreases in some quality-of-life measures however, recruitment was reduced due to operational constraints and concurrent comorbidities were not assessed.  General feedback for SED and vial packaging was positive, with some improvements identified.