Yet another use for Stem Cells.
From the UK Daily Mail:
45-minute operation to restore sight to millionsVery cool if this works out.
A revolutionary technique being developed by British scientists could cure blindness in millions of people around the world.
The first 45-minute operations could take place within five years and could be as commonplace as cataract surgery in a decade.
The improvement is likely to be great enough to transform lives, allowing the blind to regain the ability to carry out everyday tasks such as reading or driving.
The pioneering stem cell surgery tackles age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. There are about 300,000 sufferers in this country and the number is expected to treble in the next 25 years to around one million as the population ages.
AMD, which affects a quarter of over-60s in the UK and more than half of over-75s to some degree, occurs in two forms. While the "wet" form can be combated with drugs, there is no treatment for the "dry" form which accounts for 90 per cent of cases.
The treatment centres on human embryonic stem cells grown in a laboratory. These are "blank" cells with the power to turn into different cell types and are used to create small patches identical to the cells damaged in the eyes of AMD sufferers.
Packaged into a syringe, the patch is injected into the back of the eye where it replaces damaged cells and restores sight.
The technique is being developed by scientists and doctors from University College London, Moorfields Eye Hospital, also in London, and Sheffield University, working together in the London Project to Cure Blindness.
Their work has been boosted by a �4million donation from an anonymous American benefactor.
