United Kingdom doctor performs 1st stem cell eye op

What is age-related macular degeneration?

Prof Da Cruz said animal studies had shown that surgery to introduce the sheet of cells into the eye was feasible.

The 60-year-old woman, who had severely impaired sight and was in danger of going blind, is said to have had no complications so far following the three-hour operation last month.

AMD affects a specific area of cells that are either damaged or completely missing.

The woman is one of ten patients with macular degeneration that are being treated with the surgery as part of a trial.

This is the first time experts have used a “patch” technique using embryonic cells with the aim of reversing vision loss in patients.

Retinal surgeon Lyndon Da Cruz, who is performing the operations, said he hoped many patients “will benefit in the future from transplantation of these cells”.

A DOCTOR in the United Kingdom has performed the world’s first embryonic stem cell operation aimed at curing blindness in people with an age-related disease.

‘We are tremendously pleased to have reached this stage in the research, ‘ he said. Prof Da Cruz has started the trial with wet AMD patients because there is potential to restore sight faster in these cases, following sudden vision loss. The safety and efficacy of embryonic stem cells remains unknown and will only be understood through clinical trials such as this one.

He explained that using the patient’s own cells was complex and carried risks, which is why the London Project opted for the embryonic stem cell line, which can produce a limitless supply of specialist cells.

The team at Moorfields is working in partnership with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which is funding the trial.

“I suspect a time frame of around five years is not unreasonable from initial studies to more widespread adoption if the treatment was proven to be safe and effective”.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a painless eye condition that causes the loss of central vision, usually in both eyes. In AMD this vision becomes increasingly blurred, which means that reading becomes hard, colours appear less vibrant and people’s face are hard to recognise. Secondly, this study will enable a much better understanding of the use of embryonic stem cells to treat disease in general.

“This has the potential to be a treatment rather than being theoretical proof”. The woman, 60, had a wet AMD described to be uncommon but aggressive. Stem cells are blank cells capable of being reprogrammed to transform into any cell in the body, meaning they can replace damaged tissue.

There is now no cure, and treatment only works for some forms of it, and with varying results. Wet AMD, which is less common than dry AMD, is generally caused by abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid or blood into a region in center of the retina.