1 donor cornea, 2 patients helped
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 - 11:32
in Health & Medicine
German researcher Claus Cursiefen, MD, also affiliated with Harvard School of Medicine, reports good results with a new surgical strategy that uses a single donor cornea to help two patients with differing corneal diseases. In the United States keeping pace with demand for donated corneal tissue for use in transplant surgery is a cause for concern, while in Europe and Asia shortages lead to treatment delays. Dr. Cursiefen's new approach restored good vision to patients who had Fuchs' dystrophy (degeneration of certain corneal cells) or keratoconus (thin, cone-shaped cornea) while also addressing the supply problem. The study appears in February's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.