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Umbilical cord blood serum promotes epithelial healing in severe dry eye
Heterologous umbilical cord blood serum-based eye drops may enable healing of diseased corneal epithelium and reduce symptoms in patients with severe dry eye disease, according to a study.
The study included 33 eyes of 17 patients with graft-versus-host disease and 26 eyes of 13 patients with Sjögren’s syndrome. Patients’ mean ages were 38.8 years in the graft-versus-host disease group and 59.6 years in the Sjögren’s syndrome group. All patients received sterile cord blood serum eye drops daily for 1 month.
The authors evaluated epithelial defects, subjective symptoms according to the Ocular Surface Disease Index, Schirmer test scores, tear breakup time, tear osmolarity, conjunctival samples and goblet cell count at baseline and at 15 and 30 days after treatment.
Goblet cell counts increased significantly in 16 patients, from 57.6 cells/mm2 at baseline to 126.8 cells/mm2 at follow-up; 14 patients had no increase. Corneal epithelial damage decreased in all eyes.
Discomfort scores were 39.3 at baseline and 22.3 at day 30. Scraping cytology scores were 6.6 at baseline and 3.8 at 30 days.
All patients reported high satisfaction at the time the drops were administered, the authors said.