Oral mucous membrane epithelial sheet transplant successful

PARIS — Surgeons have successfully performed an autologous transplantation of oral mucous membrane epithelial sheet in corneas with severe corneal damage, a speaker here said.

Carole Burillon, MD, presented first results of phase 1 and 2 trials of the procedure for restoring corneal stem cells in patients with bilateral stem cell deficit from corneal burns and Stevens-Johnson syndrome at the French Society of Ophthalmology meeting.

The autologous epithelial oral mucosal stem cell transplantation was first performed on seven patients in October 2007.

"The seven patients showed improvement of the principle criteria, which were reduction of keratitic precipitates, suppression of ulcer and regression of corneal neovascularization," Dr. Burillon said.

The only patient who had an adverse reaction was suffering from Lyell's syndrome, according to Dr. Burillon.

Based on those results, Dr. Burillon and colleagues were able to enroll five more patients in February.