5,000 cornea transplants are performed in Italy every year. In almost half of the cases, an injection of cells will suffice instead of the more complex surgery. This new approach simplifies surgery, accelerates recovery and allows 300 to 500 eyes to be treated with a single donor cornea. To illustrate the novelty will be the first national congress of the Italian Society of Ophthalmological Sciences (Siso), which will be held in Rome from 19 to 21 May and presented today in the Senate.
In about 40% of cases of corneal blindness that requires transplantation, the problem depends on alterations of the deep endothelial layer and it is enough to recover this to return to see. In these cases, intervening with a cell transplant will be much easier than with the standard transplant. “The technique is simple – explains Vincenzo Sarnicola, president of the International Cornea Society (Sicsso) – corneal endothelial cells can be extracted from donors and multiplied in culture and then injected into the recipient after removing the diseased ones”. The procedure “lasts a few minutes, visual recovery is quick and better”. The new method has already enabled visual recovery in over 300 treated patients in Japan and El Salvador. The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and in Ophthalmology, have paved the way for ongoing trials in the US, while the first European trial will start in Italy in 2023.
A further advantage is the possibility of treating many patients starting from a single donor cornea: to date, up to 75 eyes can be treated with cells extracted and propagated from one cornea, but experts believe that it can be managed up to 300-500 patients with only one tissue.
“In the world there are 13 million people with blindness due to corneal diseases. With the new technique – concludes Sarnicola – it will be possible to treat many more patients than today, especially in developing countries, where finding corneal tissues is not simple”.
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