A team of New York surgeons announced this Thursday that they performed, for the first time in history, a complete eye transplant on a living patient. The operation is described as a milestone in medicine, although it is not yet known if the patient will be able to recover his vision.
The beneficiary of the surgery is Aaron James, a 46-year-old worker who, in 2021, survived a 7,200-volt electric shock when he touched his face with an electrified wire: he lost his left eye, his left arm above the elbow. , his entire nose and lips, plus his front teeth, left cheek, and chin down to bone level.
Part of the donor’s face and the entire left eye were removed, and the biological material was used for the intervention by NYU Langone Health, a leading medical center in facial reconstruction, in May of this year.
The successful transplant of a complete eye has been a goal of Medicine for many years and, although scientists have achieved some in rats, partially restoring their vision, the operation has never been performed on a living person.
“The simple fact that we have performed the first complete eye and face transplant is an enormous achievement; many considered it impossible for a long time,” said Eduardo Rodríguez, who led the operation.
The procedure lasted 21 hours and used cutting guides built in 3D specifically for Aaron James. “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect patient,” said Rodríguez, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
The transplanted eye has shown signs of good health and there is blood flow to the retina, the part that receives light and sends signals to the brain, which interprets them as images, but it is not yet certain that the patient will regain vision.
Aaron James has an intact right eye and was considered an ideal candidate for the pioneering operation because, as he also needed a facial transplant, he would have to take immunosuppressive medications, favoring the cost-benefit of the operation, although its initial value was only cosmetic and not Of vision.
“I am very grateful to the donor and his family, they gave me a second chance to live through a time of great difficulty. I hope the family finds comfort in knowing that part of the donor now lives with me,” said James, who returned in September, four months after the intervention, to the state of Arkansas, where he was born and lives, to be with his wife and daughter. Monthly follow-up appointments in New York follow.
Source: TSF
