Surgeons in Turin restore sight to woman blind for five years
A team at Turin's Molinette Hospital transplanted the entire front segment of one eye to another in the same patient, including the central retina. Professor Michele Reibaldi led the procedure on Elena, 67, who had been completely blind since a traffic accident destroyed the optic nerve in her left eye and damaged the retina and cornea in her right. Surgeons removed healthy but non-functioning tissue from the left eye -- cornea, sclera, conjunctiva, and for the first time anywhere, the macula -- and transferred the block to rebuild the right eye. Elena's dog Joe, a guide animal, was allowed to stay in hospital with her during recovery.
Transplanting the macula from one eye to another was considered impossible until now. The operation creates a working eye from two damaged ones when conventional cornea transplants cannot help.
Source: Autotrapianto della retina centrale, intervento eseguito per la prima volta al mondo alle Molinette (lastampa.it). Spotted via Good News Network.
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