The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : You can see through this artificial eye

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 11, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

You can see through this artificial eye

Staff Reporter

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

A RAY OF HOPE: Bhujang Shetty (left), chairman of Narayana Nethralaya, greeting the patients along with Rohit Shetty (second from left) and his team which performed artificial cornea implant surgery in Bangalore on Wednesday on the occasion of World Sight Day.

BANGALORE: Narayana Nethralaya announced on Wednesday it has successfully conducted an artificial cornea implant. The hospital claimed that it was the first in the country to achieve this feat. Only about 20 centres perform the procedure in the world.

Hospital chairman Bhujang Shetty announced this on the eve of World Sight Day (October 11) at a press conference at the hospital premises in the presence of two recipients.

Dr. Shetty said the artificial cornea, technically known as AlphaCor, was an approved product of the Food and Drug Administration of the U.S. AlphaCor was a biocompatible, flexible, artificial cornea designed to replace scarred or diseased cornea tissue.

Doctors opt for implantation of artificial cornea in patients who had multiple failed corneal transplants or for those in whom a donor graft was likely to fail, Dr. Shetty said.

AlphaCor’s features aimed at promoting retention, minimise post-operative complications and restore vision in patients who could not receive or were unlikely to have a beneficial outcome from a human donor graft.

Developed by Western Australia’s Lions Eye Institute, AlphaCor is a biocompatible and flexible polymer with a sponge rim in which millions of pores are drilled by a special laser.

The piece is placed on the eye where cells and blood vessels grow in the holes and ensure the artificial cornea remains anchored. There is no fear of the body rejecting the tissue or need for extended use of systemic immune suppression because the cornea is artificial.

Dr. Shetty said the surgery was performed in two stages. Initially, AlphaCor was implanted into the cornea and a protective conjunctival flap created. Later, the protective flap was removed to allow light to pass through the central clear zone to restore vision.

The artificial cornea was imported from the United States and costs in between Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh, Dr. Shetty said.

The price tag could come down once the product was widely used across the country, he said.

The two recipients – Bhargavi (17) of Madanapalle and Krishnamurthy (61) of Koppal – however, did not have to pay as the company had offered it free,

Dr. Shetty said. The surgery was performed by a team of doctors comprising Rohit Shetty, Anand and Himanshu.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section