City institute finds cure to corneal blindness
(Times News Network-January 19, 2004)

HYDERABAD : Thanks to pioneering research in adult stem cells by a city-based eye hospital, people with corneal blindness have a ray of hope.

Corneal blindness has several possible causes. Most people do not realise that repeated rubbing of the eye could damage the cornea, the outermost layer of eye. Corneal damage can also result from acid/chemical substances entering the eye or due to any acute infection.

Serious damage could ultimately lead to corneal blindness and might necessitate transplantation of cornea.

In a normal eye, corneal cells are constantly regenerated by a special type of stem cells but in the instance of corneal damage, the stem cells also get damaged, resulting in stem cell deficiency.

In the conventional mode of treatment, the damaged stem cells are surgically grafted by taking healthy stem cells from a donated cornea or from the healthy eye of the patient.

This type of treatment has one problem — the grafted tissue is at risk of rejection. This forces the doctors to prescribe a regular dose of immuno-suppressant drugs, which neutralises the immune system's natural tendency to reject foreign bodies.

To overcome this problem of rejection, doctors at the L V Prasad Eye Institute have developed indigenous ways to culture stem cells from the patient's own healthy eye or a donor eye. The cultured cells are later grafted onto the damaged eye.

Delayed growth or absence of growth of grafted tissue and infection from surgery are the major complications but the overall success rate has been satisfactory, according to a senior doctor at the institute.

The institute has treated 180 cases referred from different parts of the country over the last two years. This treatment was started by researchers in Italy and only a few other countries namely China , Japan , Taiwan and America are offering similar treatment