A top British eye surgeon is planning to perform UK’s first transplant using an artificial cornea.
Sheraz Daya said he will carry out the complex operation within a year – pending approval from British and EU authorities!
The artificial cornea will be made from lab-grown collagen, tissue that is naturally found in the human body. Damaged and scarred tissue, which causes loss of eyesight and blindness – is removed as part of the procedure and the ‘biosynthetic’ replacement is then stitched in its place! Following the operation eye nerves and cells grow over the implanted cornea, incorporating it into the eye.
Trials at a university in Sweden have shown the method is just as successful as transplanting a natural cornea. Daya, who works at the Centre for Sight, a private clinic in East Grinstead, West Sussex, expects to treat up to a dozen patients in a UK trial once approval is granted by the relevant ethics committees.
There is growing pressure on eye banks in this country to treat increasing levels of eye disease as well as accident victims. Last year, according to the UK transplant registry, there was an 11 percent drop in the number of eyes being donated and a three percent drop in cornea transplants.
A survey for the charity Fight for Sight, found that people were 15 percent less likely to donate eyes than other body parts or organs. UK Blood and Transplant, which supplies most of corneas used in more than 3,700 transplants a year says there is a delay in people getting corneas as it struggles to meet demand.
Daya, an eye surgeon for more than 30 years, is medical director of Cornea Biosciences the company that makes the artificial cornea. Limited successful human trials stopped in 2010 but now the firm is planning to commercialise the discovery. He said, “The artificial cornea has several advantages. There is no rejection as in human cornea grafts, no risk of disease transmission.”
Another major plus is that the artificial cornea has a six months shelf life compared to just one month for a human cornea. Daya said that, “many patients stayed visually impaired for longer in the UK than the USA because of costs and the more conservative nature of eye medicine”. He believes that as many as 8,000 cornea transplants should take place in the UK but this would not be possible because of lack of sufficient donors.
“We have an unmet need in this country. People are staying visually impaired for longer because they don’t donate corneas as quickly as they should. Donation rates have sadly decreased in the UK for a number of reasons. Donors or their families are hesitant to donate eyes concerned about the appearance of the body afterwards. Another reason for a reduced supply has been not asking.