Health

Cure for blindness tested in Scotland

by LotusFlower | January 18, 2009 at 11:32 pm

182 views | 29 Recommendations | 2 comments

A cure for corneal blindness is to be tested in Scotland and experts feel the new stem cell technology offers hope for a cure to blindness for millions of people across the world.

The trial will be led by Prof. Bal Dhillon of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh and will continue Scotland's reputation as a leader in the field of eye research and treatment.

National Eye Research Centre

The new stem-cell therapy could potentially restore vision to patients with corneal blindness. If successful, it could help millions of people around the world suffering sight problems caused by this type of blindness.

Experts are confident that they can restore sight by using an innovative form of stem-cell transplantation. They plan to carry out a clinical trial of around 20 patients before moving on to larger studies.

The surgical treatment involves the transplantation of stem cells to replace diseased cells in the eye of a patient with chronic corneal disease. The cells are taken from a deceased donor and grown in the lab before being transplanted on to the surface of the cornea.

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Dave Keating

at 23:40 on January 18th, 2009

very interesting news

LotusFlower

at 23:43 on January 18th, 2009

Interesting and exciting - this stem cell work is I think not using embryonic stem cells and so some of the controversy that surrounds some stem cell research isn't here