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| Glaucoma: ASC Trials |
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| Eye Diseases and Disorders | |||
| Dienstag, 07. November 2006 um 08:00 Uhr | |||
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There are no translations available. Source: ABC By Health reporter Sophie Scott Eye experts showcase new treatments for glaucoma Tuesday, 7 November 2006. 18:42 (AEDT)Tuesday, 7 November 2006. 17:42 (ACST)Tuesday, 7 November 2006. 17:42 (AEST)Tuesday, 7 November 2006. 18:42 (ACDT)Tuesday, 7 November 2006. 15:42 (AWST) The world's leading experts on glaucoma have unveiled their vision for treatments that might actually restore sight to the blind. Like so many other procedures these days, it involves stem cells. But these would be adult stem cells supplied by the patients themselves. Glaucoma increases pressure in the eyeball causing damage to the optic nerve leading to vision loss. The traditional treatment is eye drops or laser surgery to reduce pressure in the eye. Today world experts on glaucoma outlined their vision for a treatment which will actually reverse the damage caused by the disease. "The hope is to prevent the remaining vision loss which unfortunately still happens to people who are diagnosed with the disease and using the standard therapies," Professor Harry Quigley, from the Wilmer Eye Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in Baltimore, said. One idea already being trialed in humans in the United States is to take adult stem cells from the patient's own eye. The cells are stimulated to produce chemical proteins, then stored in a tiny capsule. "The capsule has holes in it that lets chemicals come out but the cells are trapped inside and the capsule is small enough that it fits inside the eye," Professor Quigley said. The chemicals protect remaining nerve cells in the eye, and because the cells come from the patient there is no chance of rejection. Experts say being able to produce fully functioning eye cells is still quite a few years away. As glaucoma increases with age, the number of Australians being diagnosed with the condition is rising, "To have at our fingertips tantalisingly close the ability to in fact resurrect dying cells is extraordinarily exciting," Professor Ivan Goldberg, ophthalmologist, said. The approach will eventually be trialed in patients who are completely blind to see if it can restore their ability to distinguish light and dark and shapes. The research was presented at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists in Sydney.
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