Successful artificial eye transplant for humans.

This is a groundbreaking step in biomedical science, as humans have for the first time successfully transplanted an eye into a patient who had lost their sight.

The surgery, performed recently in Manchester, England, by doctors at the Royal Manchester Hospital, can be considered the world's first successful eye transplant.

Patient Ray Flynn during a post-operative computer screen line test.

An 80-year-old man named Ray Flynn suffers from age-related macular degeneration, which has led to his complete loss of vision.

Currently (after the surgery), he is using a retinal implant that converts images from a small video camera placed on his glasses. Now, he can determine the direction of horizontal and vertical lines on a computer screen by using these glasses.

Flynn said he was "delighted" with the new transplant and hoped it would improve his vision enough in the future to help him do more household chores like gardening or shopping.

Reportedly, the Argus II implants, manufactured by the American company Second Sight, have been used to restore vision to many patients blinded by the rare disease retinitis pigmentosa.

The tissue was transplanted into Flynn's eye.

However, the transplant, performed on a patient with macular degeneration—one of the most common eye diseases—was Flynn's first such case. This condition had previously deprived Flynn of his vision, forcing him to sit very close to the TV to see anything.

The surgery lasted over four hours and was led by Paulo Stanga, consultant ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon at the Royal Manchester Eye Hospital, along with a number of other ophthalmology professors at the University of Manchester.

Currently,Flynn can see the silhouettes of people and objects very effectively. Stanga further stated, "This is just the beginning of a new era for patients with vision loss."

Essentially, Flynn's new eye implant works by receiving information and images from a miniature camera attached to the patient's glasses.These images are then converted into electrical pulses and transmitted wirelessly via an array of electrodes attached to Flynn's retina. The electrodes then further stimulate the retinal cells and send the visual information to the brain.

Flynn's macular degeneration has two different age-related forms: dry and wet macular degeneration. The dry form, which accounts for 85% of cases, causes gradual loss of central retinal vision but does not affect surrounding areas.

An estimated 44,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with dry macular degeneration each year. Meanwhile, Manchester Hospital in England has undertaken a trial of performing four transplants on patients with this condition annually.

The historic surgery lasted over four hours.

Professor Stanga happily stated, "We hope that patients will regain central vision, enabling them to work and see their surroundings. We are delighted by this trial and hope that this technology can help people, including children, with various forms of vision impairment or loss."

The Argus II implant currently costs around $234,000, including treatment costs, although it is currently free for all patients participating in the trial. The trials are being conducted at the Manchester Clinical Research Facility with financial support from the National Institutes of Health, aiming to provide access to medications and medical devices to help patients.

These are just the first experimental studies, and it is very likely that we will see results in the near future.This research was soon applied more widely to all patients.

According to khoahoc.tv