27歲男子成功移植豬眼角膜恢復視力

A 27-year-old man is able to see again with his right eye thanks to a successful pig cornea transplant at Third Xiangya Hospital in Central China's Hunan Province, Beijing Youth Daily reported.

據《北京青年報》報道，在中國中部湖南省的中南大學湘雅三醫院成功接受了豬角膜移植手術之後，一名27歲的男子的右眼又可以看到東西了。

His sight recovered to 0.3 after the operation, according to his doctor, surnamed Cao.

據他的主治醫生曹醫生介紹，術後他的視力已經恢復到0.3。

The man had necrotic stromal keratitis and could see almost nothing. Treatment required a new cornea, but the number of donated human corneas is far fewer than demand.

這名男子患有“壞死性角膜基質炎”，幾乎看不到東西。要治療需要新角膜，但是當前人體捐獻的角膜數量遠遠達不到需求。

The transplant doesn't involve placing a pig's cornea directly on the human eye, oculist Cao explained, but uses the animal's three-dimensional structure to help form new corneal tissues. The procedure also requires special technological treatment.

眼科醫生曹醫生表示，豬眼角膜移植並不是直接把豬的眼角膜移植到人的眼球上，而是將動物角膜的三維立體結構移植到人的眼球上，形成一個新的角膜組織。這個操作還需要特殊的技術處理。

The cornea of a pig is the most similar among animals to humans in some parameters, which makes it the best choice as a temporary replacement, said Tang Renhong, director of the cornea transplant center at the hospital.

該醫院角膜移植中心主任唐仁泓稱，在動物中，豬眼角膜的參數與人體最接近，這使得它成爲臨時替代品的最佳選擇。

Tang added it was not the first time the center conducted such surgery. Pig corneas do not need a vascular supply, so the success rate can reach 90 percent, but how long a patient can maintain eyesight depends on whether the transplant is rejected by the body or not, he said.

他還表示，這不是湘雅三醫院第一次做“豬角膜移植手術”。豬眼角膜不需要血管供給，因此手術成功率高達90%。但是一個病人能維持視力多長時間，主要取決於身體是否對移植有排斥反應。

The procedure was researched and developed by a company in South China's Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and began to be applied in clinic in 2016, Tang explained, adding that some hospitals in Beijing and Wuhan in Hubei Province started to conduct such surgeries last year. To date, there are less than 10 successful cases on record.

唐仁泓解釋稱，這一手術是由廣東省深圳市一家公司研發的，並於2016年開始臨牀應用。他還表示，北京和湖北武漢的一些醫院從去年就開始進行這種手術了。迄今爲止，記錄在案的成功病例還不到10例。