A team of surgeons at NYU Langone Hospital in New York has announced that they have performed the world’s first total eye transplant in a living person. The patient, a man from Arkansas, lost his left eye and part of his face in a work accident.
The patient, a 46-year-old military veteran, suffered an electrocution accident while working as a high-voltage power line installer in June 2021. The extreme electrical shock caused him to lose nearly half of his face, including his left eye, his entire nose, and lips, left side of cheek and chin, as well as left arm.
NYU Langone Hospital’s medical team of more than 140 surgeons and nurses successfully completed a surgical procedure that lasted approximately 21 hours, where they performed both a total eye transplant and a partial face transplant. This pioneering medical operation was completed at the end of May and represents a world first in the field of eye transplantation.
The medical team noted that the transplanted eye shows remarkable signs of health. Even if the patient’s vision is not fully restored, there is hope that, in time, vision may return. However, the success of this procedure opens new perspectives in the field of transplant medicine, highlighting significant progress in this field.
The chief surgeon, Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who has previously performed four face transplants, emphasized that this operation marks a remarkable moment in the progress of modern medicine. He noted that the man survived and made remarkable progress after the operation, although initially the situation appeared extremely serious.
Surgeon Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez with Aaron James, 46, before receiving a total eye and partial face transplant Credit: NYU Langone Hospital
The procedure was extremely complex and required considerable effort on the part of the medical team, involving two operating rooms. During the procedure, damaged facial tissue was removed from the patient, and Dr. Rodriguez and his team dissected the donor’s face and eyeball in the other room.
An essential part of the total eye transplant operation was the reconnection of the patient’s optic nerve to the donor eye. This aspect required extreme precision to guide the optic nerve fibers to the appropriate targets and preserve the corneal nerves.
Despite the success of this complex surgery, the full results of the transplant are still uncertain. The doctor explained that eye transplantation had never been done before, and the possibility of restoring vision depends on a functional communication between the transplanted eye and the patient’s brain.
The patient is closely monitored and must continue to take medication to reduce the risk of transplant rejection. However, the medical team is optimistic that this procedure opens up new perspectives in transplant medicine and could have a significant impact on the restoration of nerve and visual function for patients who have suffered severe eye loss due to trauma or serious illness.
Source: 360medical.ro
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2023-11-20 22:16:27
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