1 of 3 Aaron James received the first whole eye transplant Photo: NYU LANGONE STAFF Aaron James received the first whole eye transplant Photo: NYU LANGONE STAFF
New York surgeons announced this Thursday (9) the completion of the operation first transplant whole eye in a person. Before this groundbreaking procedure, doctors only performed procedures Corneal transplant, the transparent front layer of the eye.
In the six months since the surgery, which was performed as part of a partial face transplant, the transplanted eye showed important health signs, including wellfunctioning blood vessels and a promisinglooking retina, according to the NYU Langone Health surgical team.
“The simple fact that we transplanted an eye is a Big breakthroughsomething that has been thought about for centuries, but it was never achieved.”said Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the team.
The patient, Aaron James, is a 46yearold military veteran from Arkansas who survived a workrelated highvoltage accident that destroyed the left side of his face, nose, mouth and left eye.
The doctors originally planned to include it of the eyeball as part of a face transplant for aesthetic reasons.
“If there was some kind of vision restoration, that would be wonderful, but the goal was that we could do the technical surgery and the eyeball could survive,” Rodriquez said.
At the moment, The transplanted eye does not communicate with the brain via the optic nerve. Transplantation of a viable eyeball opens up many new possibilities, although in this case vision is not restored.
2 of 3 Aaron James received the first complete eye transplant Photo: NYU LANGONE via Portal Aaron James received the first complete eye transplant Photo: NYU LANGONE via Portal
Other teams are developing ways to connect nerve networks in the brain to blind eyes, for example by inserting electrodes to enable vision.
“If we can collaborate with other scientists who are working on other methods of restoring vision or restoring images of the visual cortex, I think we will be one step closer,” Rodriguez said.
James, who could still see his right eye, I knew I might not regain my vision from my transplanted eye.
“I told them, ‘Even though I can’t see it…maybe you all can learn something to help the next person.’ Here’s how to get started. I hope this opens a new path,” he said.
Rodriguez doesn’t rule out the possibility of the military veteran regaining his sight through his transplanted eye.
“I don’t think anyone can say they’ll see it. But they can’t say he doesn’t see it either,” Rodriguez said. “At this point, I think we are very happy with the results we were able to achieve with a very technically demanding procedure.”
3 of 3 The operation lasted approximately 21 hours and involved a team of more than 140 surgeons, nurses and other medical professionals Photo: JOE CAROTTA / NYU LANGONE STAFF The operation lasted approximately 21 hours and involved a team of more than 140 surgeons and nurses and other medical professionals Photo: JOE CAROTTA / NYU LANGONE STAFF