In this study the safety and effectiveness of biosynthetic cornea, comprising interpenetrating networks of recombinant human collagen and phosphorylcholine, will be tested in patients with severe corneal pathology (corneal ulcers or corneal opacification from corneal injury, burn or infection) - diseases, where human donor cornea transplantation (the only widely accepted treatment) carries a high risk of rejection.
Collagen-phosphorylcholine corneal substitute will be implanted in patient's corneas with severe pathology (corneal ulcer, corneal leukoma after burn, trauma or infection) using anterior lamellar keratoplasty technique, i.e. when patient's diseased cornea is removed it will be substituted with proposed transparent implant. Usually these patients are grafted with human donor cornea, but the latter frequently fails due to graft-versus-host problems. We will test the safety (incidence of adverse events, biocompatability) and the effectiveness (ability to promote healing and increase vision) of developed biosynthetic corneas in 10 patients with corneal pathology, where human donor cornea carries a high risk of rejection. The patients will be follow-uped for 12 months.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
5
Patients will undergo surgery using conventional anterior lamellar keratoplasty technique: diseased cornea will be trephined to approximately 50-90% of corneal thickness (depending on corneal ulcer or scar depth) and then a lamellar dissection will be created. Trephine diameter will depend on ulcer or leukoma maximal size. Alternatively a femtosecond laser may be used to create the dissection. A collagen-phosphorylcholine cornea 250-500 microns thick and equal or 0.25 mm larger diameter is placed and sutured. The sutures are superimposed and the implant and the sutures covered with a bandage contact lens. The sutures and bandage lens will be removed later after the initial healing period of 4 weeks or as determined by physician depending on the implant epithelial coverage.
The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy
Odesa, Ukraine
Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events
Implant safety and tolerability will be measured by absence/presence of its lysis as well as by degree of eye inflammation based on conjunctival injection, perifocal corneal haze, aqueous humor transparency, increased intraocular pressure and self reported postoperative pain. Each item is scored 0-4: 0 = no symptom, 4 = severe symptom.
Time frame: 12 months
Number of Participants With Healed Cornea at 12 Months
Cornea is considered to have healed up when there is no defect of corneal epithelium, which is confirmed by fluorescein staining of corneal surface
Time frame: 12 months
Number of Participants With Improved Visual Acuity at 12 Months
Improvement of 1 or more lines in Corrected Distance Visual Acuity in comparison to preoperative visual acuity
Time frame: 12 months
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