Medical première in Italy: a woman blind for 5 years regains her sight through a groundbreaking transplant

A medical team in Italy has performed what is considered a world first: a macular transplant — involving the central part of the retina — successfully restoring the sight of a patient who had been completely blind for five years. The announcement was made by the Molinette Hospital in Turin, according to the AFP news agency.

The patient is Elena, a 67-year-old woman who lost her sight entirely following a serious road accident. The impact caused irreversible damage to the optic nerve in her left eye, preventing the transmission of light from the eye to the brain, even though the ocular structures themselves had remained intact, the hospital's statement explains.

The woman's right eye had already been affected by maculopathy prior to the accident, and the subsequent trauma caused irreparable damage to both the retina and the corneal transparency. The complete destruction of the area containing stem cells ruled out the possibility of a conventional corneal graft — a situation which, according to the hospital, had condemned the patient to permanent blindness.

How the medical team managed to reconstruct the damaged eye

This obstacle, described by the hospital as "insurmountable" until now, was overcome by Professor Michele Reibaldi and his team. The surgeons used healthy but non-functioning tissue from the patient's left eye, from which they extracted a complete anatomical block — comprising the cornea, sclera, conjunctiva, and, for the first time in the world, the macula — which was then transplanted into the right eye.

Through this "biological transfer", the medical team succeeded in reconstructing a functional eye from two severely damaged ones. The procedure was exceptionally complex and lasted nearly six hours.

"We are now waiting to see to what extent the transplanted retina will be able to function, but the initial results are encouraging," Professor Reibaldi stated.

French Professor Michel Paques, head of the ophthalmology department at the Hôpital National 15-20 in Paris, specialising in retinal diseases, confirmed to AFP that this is indeed a world first. He noted, however, that without published data reviewed by the scientific community, it is not possible to objectively assess the technique used, its degree of reproducibility, or the results announced.