hotspot -WSS

hotspot

author：fashion 2025-10-03 00:38:34 - browse：2147

Ula Jurkunas, associate director of the cornea service at Mass Eye and Ear, performs the first CALEC surgery. Courtesy Mass Eye and Ear

The first time Phillip Durst saw the big A on the chart, he could hardly believe it. It was the first in a series of letters to check his vision in his left eye. “They keep flipping the chart and it keeps getting smaller and smaller, and I keep identifying the letters — that was huge,” said Durst. “It’s like a miracle.”

A year earlier, in April 2017, Durst had lost sight from that same eye after it was hit by a caustic water treatment solution in a work accident. The damage was so severe that a standard corneal transplant would not resolve it. But in April 2018, he underwent a new, innovative procedure: An eye stem cell transplant led by Ula Jurkunas, the associate director of the cornea service at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston.

Durst, now 51 years old, is the first of four patients who were included in a Phase 1 trial of Cultivated Autologous Limbal Epithelial Cell (CALEC) transplant, the results of which were published Friday in Science Advances. The procedure allowed him to become a suitable candidate for another surgery, the artificial corneal transplant, while rehabilitating his vision — and his life.

Unlock this article by subscribing to STAT+ and enjoy your first 30 days free!

GET STARTED Log In

Previous article： As demand for Covid shots wanes, Moderna seeks its next success
Next article： Texas Medical Board asked to define abortion emergency exception

WSS

What’s missing from the debate over nursing home staff minimums

Padmanee Sharma of MD Anderson at center of lawsuit over credit

Johnson & Johnson sued for allegedly overpaying for workers' drugs

Sanders wants to replace patents with prizes for drug inventions

Readout LOUD: Venture capital, Gilead, and more M&A

Hormonal contraceptives don’t actually treat endometriosis

focus

hotspot

hotspot

In Memoriam: Notable people who died in 2023

Bernie brings in new pharma CEOs to talk drug prices

New Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s data poses Medicare coverage conundrum

Mystery swirls around US soldier who entered North Korea days ago, officials say

The high cost of giving birth even with insurance

Dementia risk linked to living in disadvantaged areas: Study

New Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s data poses Medicare coverage conundrum

Are infertility treatments 'essential' during the Covid

United colonoscopy coverage change 'may cost lives,' doctors say

Judge denies Trump's request for new trial in E. Jean Carroll case

explore

Caribou posts encouraging results on off

Updated Covid vaccine has 54% effectiveness, new study suggests

FDA panel unanimously endorses Eisai’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi

Telehealth startups are trying to fill the menopause care vacuum

Caribou posts encouraging results on off

Surgery pushed Ben Carson to fame

entertainment

explore

leisure time

focus