Two blind people have shown signs of being able to see again – despite having incurable eye disease – following a revolutionary operation involving the transplant of stem cells derived from a human embryo.
A third patient, a Yorkshire man who volunteered to take part in a similar trial in Britain, had a similar transplant operation last week involving the injection of embryonic stem cells into the damaged retina at the back of the eye.
The 34-year-old Yorkshire man, suffering from Stargardt’s disease, underwent an embryonic stem cell transplant in his right eye last Friday at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
Professor Douglas Bainbridge, a consultant surgeon at Moorfields, said the operation was deliberately carried out on the patient’s worst eye in order to minimise the risk to his overall vision. There were no adverse reactions and the patient was allowed to travel back to his home in Wakefield yesterday.
More on this story in the Independent, here.
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