New Delhi: In a first surgery of this type, a Mumbai hospital used the nerves of the foot of a partially blinded 60-year-old woman to help her restore her vision. The team of doctors at Hiranandani hospital, Vashi, a Fortis network hospital in Navi Mumbai, performed a corneal nerve transplant to treat women and help improve their vision.
Corneal transplantation, also known as a corneal graft, is a surgical procedure in which a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donor corneal tissue. The doctors, with the help of the plastic and cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Viin performed the transplant of the cornea followed by the grafting of a sensory nerve extracted from its foot called the anatomical sural nerve and connecting it to the cornea along with the sensory nerves of its front.
Due to loss of corneal nerve sensations (viral neurotrophic keratopathy), the patient’s cornea was unable to heal well and also experienced a loss of vision. She suffered from herpes simplex virus (HSV), a virus that spreads through the skin forming a thin damp coating around many parts of the body, such as the nose, mouth, throat and genitals that lead to loss of Corneal sensations.
Dr. Sunil Morekar said: “We planned and took the risk of corneal transplantation along with a new technique called nerve graft as there was a high risk of corneal graft failure if only corneal transplantation was to be performed. Has only been performed in some centers throughout the Western world. ”
We are proud to be the first to perform combined surgery in India, as this is a milestone in providing superlative care and better hope for patients, who lose their sight due to the cornea Denervating diseases such as herpes , Acoustic neuroma and trauma, “added Morekar.
Dr. Harshavardhan Ghorpade said: “Due to the precise execution of the procedure, the patient is responding well with a 70 percent improvement in vision in only six to eight weeks.” It was observed that the patient experienced improved vision one day after the operation.
However, according to doctors, the patient will experience normal sensations in a few days. The cornea is expected to remain clear, with no recurrence of complications related to sensory loss.
