Innovation in Israel has led to a man regaining his eyesight and being the world’s first artificial cornea recipient.
Ra’anana, Israel (27 January 2021) – Innovations in eyecare often make headlines due to how life-changing they are. CorNeat Vision based in Israel is the latest company to be celebrated for an eyecare innovation.
The company innovated an artificial cornea that works with the eye, regenerating sight. They performed the first surgery, and it was a success. A 78-year-old man had his sight restored thanks to the artificial cornea. The man was diagnosed bilaterally blind.
“We are excited to share that the first-in-human implantation of the CorNeat KPRo, our artificial cornea, took place at Beilinson Hospital on January 3rd, 2021 and restored sight for a 78-year-old male.” – CorNeat Vision.
After the surgery, the doctors removed his bandages and pulled out a number board and the man was able to read the numbers off the board.
The artificial cornea is able to restore sight to eyes that have been damaged by age or disease. Unfortunately, they have not yet found ways to repair sight problems that occurred due to congenital disabilities.
“Diseases affecting the cornea are a major cause of blindness worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 2 million new cases of corneal blindness are reported each year. Over 30 million people in the world are legally blind in one or both eyes from corneal injury and disease, while many more suffer from degraded visual acuity. A recent study published in JAMA Ophthalmology* assessed the shortage of corneas at one available cornea for 70 needed.
Several attempts to develop an artificial cornea have failed in creating robust, scalable and reliable solutions. As such, there exists an unmet need for an efficient, long-lasting and affordable solution to corneal pathology, injury and blindness, which would alleviate this suffering and disability and enable patients to fully exploit their vision potential.”
The CorNeat KPro implant is a patented synthetic cornea utilizing advanced cell technology to integrate artificial optics within resident ocular tissue. It is produced using nanoscale chemical engineering, which stimulates cellular growth.
How the artificial cornea works?
The CorNeat KPro implantation procedure is relatively short and simple when compared to other KPros and even keratoplasty (a corneal transplant). Unlike current procedures requiring delicate suturing of donor tissue to the patient’s native cornea, a process which can only be performed by very skilled and thoroughly trained specialists, the CorNeat KPro snaps into the patient’s trephined cornea and is then sutured to the eye using three non-degradable sutures. The process itself minimizes the time the eye is trephined and open (also known as “open sky”) to less than one minute – significantly reducing the risks involved.
The CorNeat KPro lens is designed to enable post-operative ophthalmic examinations and subsequent anterior and posterior segment surgeries (i.e. cataract and retinal surgeries). This is enabled by four openings or “ports,” located on the rim of the lens, placed over the limbus.
Being 100% synthetic, sterile and composed of inert materials, the device is not expected to bear infectious agents or cause excessive inflammation. This will result in improved quality of life and more effective patient care.
Since the surgery was a success, 10 other people on the waiting list will now get a second chance at restoring their sight. You can watch the surgery and post-op consultation here. The video comes with English subtitles.
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