Autologous Stem Cell Treatment Restores Vision In Patients With Severe Eye Damage From Burns.

Autologous Stem Cell Treatment Restores Vision In Patients With Severe Eye Damage From Burns.

ABC World News (6/23, story 11, 2:00, Sawyer) reported, "This is big medical news. We learned today that doctors have restored sight to some people blinded by accidents" by "harvesting stem cells from their own eyes to grow new corneas."

The AP (6/24, Chang) reports, that, according to a study published online June 23 in the New England Journal of Medicine and reported last week at a meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, "dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells -- a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field." In fact, Italian researchers say that "the treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far."

The Time (6/23, O'Callaghan) "Wellness" blog reported, "In a study of 106 patients treated between 1998 and 2007, researchers were able to extract adult stem cells from healthy eye tissue, grow additional stem cells in the lab, and secure them over the damaged eye tissue." But, "the treatment technique is limited to people who still have some healthy eye tissue and at least partial vision, as it requires extracting some living stem cells to cultivate new ones." Vision for many of the patients "was restored within mere months of treatment."

"Interestingly, the procedure was successful in some patients who had been burned years before entering the study," HealthDay (6/23, Dotinga) reported. "Patients 22, 26 and 46, for example, were nearly blind in one of their eyes, with completely opaque corneas, after suffering alkali burns; they had undergone unsuccessful surgery, respectively, 13, 30, and three years before admission to the study. The researchers were able to restore a stable corneal covering to all three, with patients 22 and 46 regaining complete visual acuity, the study reported." Reuters (6/23, Emery), MedPage Today (6/23, Phend), and WebMD (6/23, Boyles) also covered the story.

Steep Regulatory Requirements Must Be Overcome Before Technique Can Be Tried In US, Expert Says. The Modesto Bee (6/24) reports, "Despite recent successes in Italy, it's likely to be years before American doctors again try to restore people's eyesight with stem cell transplants, said Dr. Ivan Schwab, a UC-Davis ophthalmology professor who has done similar transplants in the past." Schwab pointed out that "there are steep regulatory and financial requirements for doing stem cell corneal transplants." He added, "I just don't think that these techniques are going to be available to patients in the United States for a bit...maybe a decade."