Blind Patient Opts For Stem Cell Therapy
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - Stem Cell Guru
Scotland's Daily Record newspaper has an exclusive report about a young man who is heading to the Netherlands for pioneering stem cell treatment in a bid to restore his sight.
Phil Cuthberston will be the first person to have the procedure to treat Lebers, the condition that robbed him of his vision.
Nerve damage caused by the genetic condition has left him in a world of blurs and he has difficulty making out colours. Phil was 20 when he was robbed of his eyesight overnight - just weeks after he started dating Yvette. He underwent six months of tests before being diagnosed with Lebers. A genetic illness that affects only about 100 Scots.
Phil will have thousands of stem cells - taken from an umbilical cord - injected into his body. Half will be injected into his arm, a quarter will go into his right temple and the rest into his left.
To the layman the method of treatment seems rather hit and miss as the cells dont apear to have been differentiated into the specific type required to restore the damaged areas of the eye. In addition, researchers have discovered that targetting the injections of cells as near as possible to the diseased area improves the success rate of the treatment.
We wish Phil well and will be watching the Scottish newspapers for details of his progress. The complete article can be read here.
Phil Cuthberston will be the first person to have the procedure to treat Lebers, the condition that robbed him of his vision.
Nerve damage caused by the genetic condition has left him in a world of blurs and he has difficulty making out colours. Phil was 20 when he was robbed of his eyesight overnight - just weeks after he started dating Yvette. He underwent six months of tests before being diagnosed with Lebers. A genetic illness that affects only about 100 Scots.
Phil will have thousands of stem cells - taken from an umbilical cord - injected into his body. Half will be injected into his arm, a quarter will go into his right temple and the rest into his left.
To the layman the method of treatment seems rather hit and miss as the cells dont apear to have been differentiated into the specific type required to restore the damaged areas of the eye. In addition, researchers have discovered that targetting the injections of cells as near as possible to the diseased area improves the success rate of the treatment.
We wish Phil well and will be watching the Scottish newspapers for details of his progress. The complete article can be read here.
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2 Comments:
Any word on the procedure? Or details on the clinic in Holland, I have Leber's and I'd like to know more.
Any word on the procedure? I have a cousin with this disease in Australia and would appreciate some positive feedback
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