Children with cataracts regain sight after radical stem cell treatment. Trial on babies and toddlers with congenital cataracts used stem cells to regenerate healthy lenses, producing better results than conventional surgery. Doctors will now monitor the children to see whether their eyes develop normally, or grow fresh cataracts. A dozen infants who were born with cataracts have regained their sight after scientists used a radical new stem cell therapy to regenerate healthy lenses in their eyes.
The children, all aged under two, are the first to receive the treatment for a condition that remains the most common cause of blindness in the world. The small-scale trial on babies and toddlers was approved soon after tests in animals found that the approach should both work and produce better results than conventional surgery. “The lens regenerated remarkably well,” said the scientist who…
