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Ex vivo cultivation of stem cells vital for treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency
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PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay — Patients with unilateral limbal stem cell deficiency get the most benefit from ex vivo cultivation of stem cells, a surgeon said here.
"There's a high incidence of rejection when you use cadaver donors. When the limbal stem cell deficiency is partial or unilateral, you can harvest stem cells from the healthy eye, which means the patient would be grafted with his own stem cells," Patricia Schimchak, MD, of Uruguay, said at the Curso Regional Panamericano.
This is important because rejection is the most frequent complication in the treatment of limbal stem cell deficiency, she said. Autologous grafts from the same or opposite healthy eye have a lower rate of graft rejection, but they are restricted to unilateral or localized conditions. Allografts harvested from a live donor or cadaver source are necessary in conditions in which both eyes are affected, she noted.
"The ex vivo cultivation of stem cells is the only other alternative in cases of total limbal stem cell deficiency," Dr. Schimchak said.