Italian doctors perform world's first macular transplant

Doctors at the Molinette hospital in Turin, Italy, have successfully performed the world's first transplant of the macula, the central part of the retina. The procedure, led by Professor Michele Reibaldi and his team, lasted approximately six hours and restored vision to a 67-year-old patient named Elena, who had been blind for five years.

The patient had previously lost her sight following a severe traffic accident. While her left eye suffered irreparable optic nerve damage, the structural components remained intact. Conversely, her right eye had sustained significant damage to the cornea and retina due to existing macular degeneration, which previously rendered a standard corneal transplant impossible. To overcome this obstacle, surgeons harvested healthy but non-functional tissues from the patient's left eye to reconstruct the macular area in her right eye.

Medical experts have described the surgery as a significant breakthrough, as the technique allowed them to bypass limitations that were previously considered insurmountable in ophthalmology. Following the successful operation, officials at the Molinette hospital reported that the initial results for the patient are highly encouraging.