Doctors first successful cataract cured with stem cells – Moskovsky Komsomolets

Perhaps in the future a new method will help to abandon the artificial eye lens

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The first in a-kind operation to replace the lens of the eye using the stem cells of the patient allowed to successfully restore vision to the child. In the future, the results can help to tens of millions of people suffering from cataract older, experts say the United States and China.

Photo: morguefile.com

The procedure developed by scientists, less invasive (ie, requires less direct intervention in the body) than analogs are generally common today, requiring implantation of artificial lens in the eye

Cataract -. clouding of the eye lens that causes partial loss of vision. In some cases, without proper treatment it can lead to total blindness. It is estimated that to date from this eye disease affects about 70 percent of people older than 60 years. In the future, the problem may be even more acute – a recent study showed that by mid-century will suffer from myopia of 4.75 billion people, with many of them it will be paired with an increased risk of cataract formation

As used up. so far the cataract surgical method of treatment lies in the fact that the patient was removed from his eyes clouded lens, and in its place was installed an artificial lens, reports cbsnews.com. This operation often helps the patient, but it is fraught with various complications, so the experts tried to find him an alternative.

The new method proposed and tested a group of scientists under the leadership of Kan Zhang from the University of California at San Diego, involves the cultivation of a new lens directly into the eye of a patient of his own stem cells, which themselves are transformed into appropriate tissues. One of the advantages of the new method is that it allows you to keep the lens shell

The researchers acknowledge that it is premature to say that the time of artificial lens thing of the past -. A new method insufficiently tested on elderly patients and may be less effective, being applied to them. However, the fact that the new method is suitable for children, is encouraging in itself -. It is for them an artificial lens transplantation was associated with a particular risk

On its results the scientists reported in the journal Nature

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