The first artificial cornea is implanted in a patient with severe eye disease
This intervention, carried out at the San Cecilio Hospital, is part of a clinical trial involving five other public health hospital centers with the collaboration of the University of Granada. The surgical intervention, lasting about 40 minutes, was directed by the ophthalmologists Miguel González Andrades and Santiago Medialdea and was carried out using microsurgery. In this way, the damaged superficial layers of the cornea were removed to later cover them with the artificial cornea. The patient has been hospitalized for two days and will have to undergo check-ups for two years.
Andalusia implants the first artificial cornea in a patient with a serious eye pathology, for the first time in Spain, an artificial cornea has been implanted in a patient with a serious eye pathology that will also make it possible to start, for the first time in the world, a clinical trial for the evaluation of this type of cornea.
This multicenter trial, in which a total of six Andalusian public hospitals participate, is part of the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies and represents the beginning, worldwide, of the clinical evaluation of the anterior artificial cornea generated by tissue engineering produced in the Cell Production Unit of the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital and the Granada-Almería Transfusion Medicine Center. This artificial cornea is one of the first advanced therapy drugs to contain two different types of human cells together with a nanotechnology-based biomaterial.
The Regional Minister for Equality, Health, and Social Policies, María José Sánchez Rubio, visited San Cecilio Hospital today, where she, along with the professionals responsible for the surgery, provided information on the details of this first artificial cornea implant. Sánchez Rubio emphasized that "this type of trial is further proof that the Andalusian public health system is promoting research into therapies that help address health problems, always based on the principle of equity, since any patient can have access to this type of innovative treatment."
The first patient to benefit from this project is a 51-year-old man with severe corneal fibrosis for which there is currently no effective therapeutic alternative. In the case of this patient, this implant will minimize discomfort and pain.
