MAN made history by becoming the first patient in England to receive an artificial cornea in an innovative “single point” surgery.
Cecil Farley, 91, faced a year-long wait for sight-saving surgery after a human cornea transplant failed – but his surgeon offered him the chance to beat the queue by using an artificial one.
7
7
7
Doctors hope that one day new artificial corneas will reduce the need for human cornea donations.
Thomas Poole, consultant ophthalmologist at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, told PA News agency the use of artificial corneas is a “major advance in patient care”.
The new product, which replaces the inner part of the cornea, has been compared to a contact lens and is surgically fixed to the eye through a single point and placed with a gas bubble.
Cecil, known to his friends as John, said the transplant surgery allowed him to continue to see his wife Elizabeth, 83.
He had no vision in his right eye, but his vision has slowly improved since the procedure, which took place in February.
Your life is fuller when your eyes work properly – you don’t realize how debilitating this is until it happens to you
Cecil Farley
John, from Chobham, Surrey, has had eye problems for around 15 years.
Frimley doctors offered the procedure, which is a type of corneal implant called endothelial keratoplasty and involves removing the abnormal inner lining of the cornea and replacing it with an artificial cornea rather than a donated human cornea.
“I can still see my wife after 63 years of marriage, we can carry on as normal and live life as fully as we can,” John told PA.
“Your life is fuller when your eyes work properly – you don’t realize how debilitating this is until it happens to you.”
The retired man, who used to own a flooring company, said that once his vision is fully recovered he intends to carry out practical tasks such as repairing a clock, but for now he is content to “wander around”.
“It made a huge difference to my vision. It was very blurry and I couldn’t make out a face.
“Now I can see better with it, the brighter the light the better.
“It’s progressing slowly – they said it could take up to a year,” Cecil said.
‘LAST HOPE’
The cornea is the clear outer layer at the front of the eyeball.
When a cornea is damaged as a result of injury or disease, it may become less transparent or its shape may change.
This can prevent light from reaching the retina at the back of the eye and cause the image transmitted to the brain to be distorted or unclear.
A cornea transplant may be performed to improve vision, relieve pain, and treat infections or serious damage.
Corneal transplants usually come from deceased donors.
Maybe in 10 or 20 years, this could become the norm, where we don’t need a human cornea, and we can just take one out of the box.
Thomas Poole
Speaking about John’s case, Thomas said: “He had a corneal graft that failed and his cornea – which is the clear window at the front of the eye – was cloudy and waterlogged.
“He had had a lot of previous surgeries and my concern was that we could use a human cornea for him again, but that presents a high risk of failure…he was kind of reaching his last hope.”
John told his doctor that – being in his 90s – he couldn’t wait a year for another human cornea transplant.
Thomas said: “I just read a post about really good reports about this artificial graft and that’s what made me think, actually, maybe we could use this for John.”
“John had this artificial cornea fitted in February and clinically we can already see that his cornea is much less swollen than it was, it is improving in shape and clarity.
“Week after week he says he’s getting a little better each time.”
‘A BIG ADVANCE’
Thomas and his colleague, Hanbin Lee, have successfully applied artificial corneas to four patients over the past two months and initial results have shown an improvement in vision.
“It’s a huge step forward in patient care and will be a great opportunity for some patients who can’t wait long or have other ocular comorbidities,” Thomas said.
Although human cornea transplants have been performed successfully for many years, there is a long waiting list for them.
“The problem is that if you have patients whose eyes are getting worse, you can’t get a human cornea for more than a year.
“There are risks in remaining on a waiting list with eye problems; There are risks to not doing anything as well, such as getting an infection.
“One of the beauties (of the artificial cornea) is that it is not human tissue, so the body does not try to reject it.”
Thomas said the use of artificial corneas could become the norm over time.
How does cornea donation work?
In 2022/23, the latest figures available, around 4,719 corneas were supplied to NHS Blood Banks and Eye Transplants and 3,529 transplants took place.
Potential organ donors tend to be willing to donate organs, including hearts, livers and kidneys, but many choose not to donate their corneas.
Kyle Bennett, assistant director of ophthalmic and tissue services at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We understand that people often attach more emotion and symbolism to the eyes compared to other parts of the body, so they may be reluctant to agree to cornea donation.
“However, agreeing to this form of donation, even when solid organ donation is not possible, means there can be light after darkness for thousands of people in need of corneal transplants.
“One donor alone can help up to 10 people restore or improve their vision and allow them to see their friends and family properly again.
“We are so grateful to all those who agreed to donate their corneas after their deaths and restored or improved the vision of 3,259 people last year through corneal transplants.”
“Looking into the future, I think this could end up replacing human corneas for certain types of corneal graft patients,” he said.
“Maybe within 10 or 20 years, this could become the norm, where we don’t need a human cornea, and we can just take one out of the box.”
Thomas added: “I just hired three people for this. All three have had failed grafts in the past, all three are on a year-long waiting list.
“We can just take it off the shelf. I can do that in the next a few months instead of waiting a year.
Giving these patients an artificial cornea will also help reduce waiting lists, he added.
NHS England national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “The use of artificial cornea transplants is an exciting and innovative step in eye care, which has the potential to benefit many patients who require treatment to improve or restore their vision. vision.
“This could provide an additional treatment option for those awaiting donated transplants, and it is heartwarming to hear from patients like Cecil who are already benefiting from its use.”
The new artificial cornea, called EndoArt, was created by ophthalmic medical device company EyeYon Medical.
Only 200 have been deployed worldwide to date, including John.
7
7
7
7
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
