A news article from Reuters (click here for the entire article) indicates a new therapy in clinical trials uses cells from the retina of the eye taken from deceased donors to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
According to the article:
People with Parkinson's disease showed marked improvement after surgeons implanted in their brains chemical-producing cells taken from the eye of a dead donor.The retina cells were cultivated and implanted in the brains of six patients with advanced Parkinson’s, researcher Natividad Stover of the University of Alabama said.
One year later, the patients scored 48 percent higher on tests of movement and coordination, and the improvement was sustained after two years, Stover wrote in the journal Archives of Neurology.
Even one year later, the members of the original study showed a dramatic improvement in motor coordination.
A different clinical study for this investigational (i.e., not approved for commercial use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) therapy is currently underway. For more information visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with PD at least 5 years ago, is 30-70 years old, is currently taking L-dopa and would like to be considered for participation in this study, please click here.
Click here to learn more about Parkinson's Symptoms and the eye.
