Stem cell operation restores eyesight
BRITAIN: A revolutionary stem cell operation has helped sufferers of the most common form of blindness to regain their vision.
Two victims of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can read again after a stem cell patch was transplanted into their eyes.
The 86-year-old man and a woman in her 60s had been diagnosed with the condition, which causes loss of central vision. It occurs when light-sensitive cells at the centre of the retina – the macular – are damaged.
Until now, the only treatments available have been injections in the eye, or laser surgery. However, they only partially restore sight and do not work for everyone. Now scientists in London at University College and Moorfields Eye Hospital have been able to restore sight using stem cell patches which replenish the damaged area.
In a two-hour operation, specialists inserted a patch under the retina in the patients. They were then monitored for a year. It resulted in the patients being able to read with normal spectacles.
Douglas Waters, 86, from Croydon, London, was one of the two patients. He developed severe wet AMD in 2015.
‘‘I was struggling to see things clearly, even when up close,’’ he said. ‘‘After the surgery, my eyesight improved to the point where I can now read the newspaper and help my wife out with the gardening. I feel so lucky to have been given my sight back.’’
The patch was grown from human embryonic stem cells. Rather than replacing the damaged cells themselves, the sheet comprised a single layer of retinal pigment epithelium, a tissue that provides support for the light cells, keeping them healthy and promoting regeneration.
Stem cells have been used before to help AMD sufferers, but this was the first time a patch had been grown and transplanted.
The new therapy needs further trials and requires approval from regulators, but researchers believe it could be available in clinics in five years.