Almost 18 months after a world-first whole eye and facial transplant, there is no sign of rejection and some indication of retinal response to light stimuli, says a new report.
The landmark surgery, performed on Mr Aaron James, a 46-year-old military veteran from Arkansas who survived a work-related high-voltage electrical accident, involved transplantation of the left eye and a portion of the face from a single donor.
The operation was performed in May 2023 at NYU Langone Health in the US, by a team of more than 140 surgeons led by Dr Eduardo Rodriguez.
The first report on progress “reveals clinical outcomes from the past year . . . highlighting promising initial results, and establishing a foundation for future advancements”.
It says there is “rejection-free graft survival and electroretinographic measurements indicating retinal response to light stimuli”.
“While the recipient has not regained vision, the transplanted eye has maintained normal pressure, good blood flow, and some remaining structure and functions in the retina,” says Dr Rodriguez in support of the report.
“Many experts did not think we would even be here, but we’ve successfully transplanted and maintained an eye without immune rejection.
“Now, the next challenge is understanding how to restore sight. I look forward to continuing this research in collaboration across academia to accelerate these discoveries with unique tools and the best therapies.”
He believes the work represents a step towards the goal of eye transplant for restoration of vision.
As a result of his injury in June 2022, James lost his dominant left arm from above the elbow, his entire nose and lips, front teeth, left cheek area, chin down to the bone and surgeons were forced to remove his left eye due to severe pain.
Surgeons preserved as much optic nerve length as possible to maximise future reconstructive options.
Dr Rodriguez and the team at NYU Langone’s Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Centre combined the donor eye with donor bone marrow-derived adult stem cells injected at the optic nerve connection of the recipient to replace the damaged or dysfunctional elements.
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