The Hindu News Update Service default/empty News Update Service Wednesday, October 1, 2008 : 0300 Hrs
Health Corneal reconstruction tech a boon to acid attack victims Madurai (PTI): Victims of acid attacks who lost their vision can now look forward to regain their eyesight, thanks to the breakthrough in corneal reconstruction technology under which lost stem cells could be restored. If cornea becomes opaque due to burn injury or accidental splashing of acid, there is hope for getting back vision by corneal reconstruction technology, Director (Research) of Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Dr V.R. Muthukaruppan told PTI. "Cornea becomes opaque because of the burning of stem cells. Now a definitive method of identifying and quantifying corneal epithelial stem cells had been established," Chief of the Department of Medical Education of the foundation Dr N.Venkatesh Prajna said. "If one eye is not affected, we can take out stem cells from that eye and can use them for reconstruction of the affected cornea. The method has been found to be a success in the case of a patient," Muthukaruppan said. "In case of people whose both eyes suffer from stem cell deficiency, a new method has been invented in which a small piece of oral epithelium is cultivated," he said, adding that this procedure has provided substantial vision to a patient. "All this is being done for the first time. Now we are in the process of understanding the factors of molecular mechanism required for converting oral to corneal epithelium," he said. Dr Muthukaruppan said another major research was to identify the cause of granuloma (accumulation of white blood cells and fibrous tissue) on the eye surface. What was considered, for a long time as tubercular infection, was now found to be due to a worm especially in children who take bath in ponds of certain villages in Thanjvur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu. "We have developed a simple treatment to excise the granuloma for quick and complete recovery, rather than a long anti-tubercular treatment," he said. Though well established method of cataract surgery by implanting intraocular lens had been developed,about 10 per cent of the patients developed reduced vision due to Posterior Capsular Opacification (PCO), he said. The university of Wisconsin, USA is collaborating with the Aravind research foundation in establishing a culture method using cadaver donor lens capsule to screen for drugs which would prevent formation of PCO. Describing Glaucoma as a silent eye disease, he said by the time symptoms developed, it becomes too late to treat for recovery of the lost vision. Therefore it is essential to identify plasma marker so that diagnosis of patients could be established much earlier than the development of symptoms. The Department of Biotechnology and the Cole eye institute of USA are collaborating with the foundation on this research. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
