Groote Schuur Hospital last week became the first South African institute to perform the complex ophthalmological procedure corneal neurotisation, reports TimesLIVE.
After suffering a stroke last year, Ingrid Barge, 40, from Claremont in the Cape, never regained sensation to her right eye, except persistent irritation.
But after several months of living with a difficult-to-treat corneal anaesthesia (numbness of the transparent front of the eye), her eyesight is about to be restored, thanks to a procedure called corneal neurotisation that local doctors performed on her eye to restore not only sensibility, but improved vision.
TimesLIVE reports that last week (3 May), Barge became the first patient to have this procedure in SA after doctors at Groote Schuur Hospital performed the minimally invasive technique, which so far has been performed only at leading medical centres in high-income countries such as the US and Europe.
With the novel technique, doctors use healthy donor nerve grafts to stimulate nerve growth in the damaged eye.
Ophthalmologist Dr Hamzah Mustak, who performed the surgery with plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Ben Moodie, said the graft is attached into the nerve supply of the opposite side before it is tunnelled across the bridge of the nose and passed through the eyelid of the affected eye.
“The nerve is then carefully divided into several branches that are tucked into little pockets created at the edge of the cornea,” said Mustak who was trained to perform the technique in Los Angeles.
At Groote Schuur Hospital only, there are about 150 patients needing this surgery. Doctors hope this was the first of many operations that will be performed at the hospital.
“We have many patients with this problem which is very difficult to treat and usually results in vision loss.”
Until the last decade there was no cure for corneal anaesthesia, and many patients required multiple medical and surgical interventions to prevent further deterioration of the cornea. Previously, patients with the condition had to have their eye closed completely to prevent perforation of the cornea.
Barge’s nerve will probably take three to six months to start working.
TimesLIVE article – Groote Schuur leads another breakthrough medical procedure (Open access)
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