Participating in a study at the University of Linköping (Sweden), patients with keratoconus were able to recover their sight thanks to an implant designed from pig skin cells.
Currently working on ways to eradicate disease-related blindness, a team of Swedish researchers from linkoping university claims to the scientific journal Nature Technology to have allowed blind people to find view. And this, thanks to an implant made from pig skin cells.
The experiment was carried out on twenty patients with keratoconus, 14 of whom had been rendered completely blind by this disease deforming the cornea. Among the patients, three have fully regained their sight, and the rest have partially regained it.
An affordable prosthesis that “could be used anywhere in the world”.
An experience that represents real progress. Because if solutions exist for people suffering from keratoconus, human grafts are needed to put them in place, report scientific journals. This disease affects about 265 people per 100,000, according to a study carried out in 2017.
“We went to great lengths to ensure that our invention would be widely available and affordable to everyone, not just the wealthy. That’s why this technology could be used anywhere in the world”says one of the study’s authors, Mehrdad Rafat.