British eye surgeon will carry out the country's first transplant using an artificial cornea
- Sheraz Daya says he plans to conduct the first operation within a year
- Transplants cure blindness and sight damaged by diseases or accidents
- Expects to treat up to a dozen patients in UK trial once he gains approval
Sheraz Daya has said he will carry out the complex operation within a year - pending approval from British and EU authorities.
The artificial cornea will be made from lab-grown collagen, tissue that is naturally found in the human body.
Damaged and scarred tissue - which causes loss of eyesight and blindness - is removed as part of the procedure and the 'biosynthetic' replacement is then stitched in its place.
Following the operation eye nerves and cells grow over the implanted cornea, incorporating it into the eye.
Trials at a university in Sweden have shown the method is just as successful as transplanting a natural cornea.
Mr Daya, who works at the Centre for Sight, a private clinic in East Grinstead, West Sussex, expects to treat up to a dozen patients in a UK trial once approval is granted by the relevant ethics committees.
There is growing pressure on eye banks in this country to treat increasing levels of eye disease as well as accident victims.
Last year, according to the UK transplant registry, there was an 11 per cent drop in the number of eyes being donated and a three per cent drop in cornea transplants.
A survey for the charity Fight for Sight found people were 15 per cent less likely to donate eyes than other body parts or organs.
UK Blood and Transplant, which supplies most of corneas used in more than 3,700 transplants a year says there is a delay in people getting corneas as it struggles to meet demand.
Mr Daya, an eye surgeon for more than 30 years, is medical director of Cornea Biosciences the company that makes the artificial cornea.
Limited successful human trials stopped in 2010 but now the firm is planning to commercialise the discovery.
He said: 'The artificial cornea has several advantages. There is no rejection as in human cornea grafts, no risk of disease transmission.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3556486/British-eye-surgeon-carry-country-s-transplant-using-artificial-cornea.html
Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>
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