Emergency operated at night in Treviso, saved the eye of a 12-year-old

The little girl, with a complicated medical history, was in danger of losing sight in one eye. The Ca ‘Foncello of Treviso contacted the tissue bank and was able to carry out the surgery immediately

TREVISO. Urgent intervention at night, Sunday at the Ca ‘Foncello hospital in Treviso, to save the eye, with a partial cornea transplant, to a 12-year-old girl suffering from a serious disease.

“On Saturday 12 February at 6 pm we receive a call from a hospital outside the Region: we are asked for help for a 12-year-old patient, who has recently had an operation on her right eye but whose situation has not stabilized and who needs a new intervention”, reports the head physician of Ophthalmology, Giuseppe Scarpa. The patient has one very complicated medical history, with problems affecting the skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and, also, the eyes. It is in this context that the little girl developed an injury to the cornea which then led to the perforation of the eye, which required the first intervention.

“The technical problem that we found ourselves facing”, Scarpa explains, “was repairing a perforation of a corneal dystrophic nature, too extensive to be treated in the traditional way with sutures, in a girl with serious problems”. Excluding the transplant cornea – dangerous for children – it was decided to perform a special transplant of small diameter, to minimize the risks.

The little girl was transferred to Ca ‘Foncello by ambulance. “We turned to the tissue bank who, despite the now nocturnal hour and the public holiday, has made available a piece of cornea », continues Scarpa. The operation began at 1 Sunday and ended at 4: it was performed by the two surgeons dr Gianluca Capello and dr Derri Roman-Pognuz, assisted by the ophthalmologist Grazia Mise, with the support of the anesthetist dr. Annapaola Dotto.

«The intervention is perfectly successful», Underlines Dr. Scarpa,« the conditions of the eye are very good; further checks and medical care will be required for a few days before the little girl can be discharged ».