Researchers Create Device for Human Eye Transplants

When our organs fail and cease to get better, few options remain, and one of them involves replacing the failing organ with a healthy one. However, not all organs can be transplanted successfully due to the complexity of their nature. One such organ is the eye, which is connected to the brain and requires a constant flow of oxygen. Although with the advancement of medtech these days, there might be a solution to finally make this work. Engineers from the University of Miami, led by Ashutosh Agarwal, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, have collaborated with Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and Miller School of Medicine to create a machine that could assist during a whole eye transplant.

More than meets the eye

The project began when Dr. David Tse, a professor of ophthalmology, and his colleague Dr. Daniel Pelaez contacted Agarwal, who had a lab that could create human organs on chips for novel treatments. Based on the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) usually used for bypass surgeries, Argawal and his team created a portable eye transplant machine that “pumps oxygenated blood mixed with a unique solution in and out of the eye”. Essentially, the machine helps to keep the retina from dying out. The retina is an important part as it sends signals to the brain to form images. Ensuring the retina keeps functioning means that the recipient could regain sight when the new eye is transplanted.

That’s not all. Using the College of Engineering’s 3D Printing Facility of Excellence, Agarwal and his team are building a custom canula. The canula would connect the eye’s primary vessel to the eye transplant machine to ensure circulation. Additionally, the team created an “eye-HOLDER” to safeguard the delivery of the donated eye from the operating room to the examination lab.

Device in action

With the eye transplant machine created, it needed to be tested out, which is what Tse and his team did. They attached the machine to a donor eye and supported it with the eye-HOLDER to keep the eye alive for many hours. Tse shared that every step went exactly as planned, which is rare. While the procedure wasn’t without some difficulties along the way, they were able to carry out the major steps and got successful results.

However, one of the challenges related to the transplant is that they still need to figure out the best way to preserve the optic nerve and an optimal way to connect the optic nerve to a recipient. According to Tse and Palaez, this is the most challenging part of the eye transplant. Currently, the engineering team is working on improving the eye-HOLDER by adding a gimbal mechanism to secure the donated eye as it gets transported to different locations.

Agarwal sees the potential of the research, sharing that it “could open up medical advancements in terms of whole-eye transplants to try and cure blindness.” With extensive research, this could be life-changing for those with rare and untreatable eye illnesses. Until then, we can only wait and see how successful this machine will be in whole eye transplants.

YouTube: Paving the way for human eye transplants

Photo credit: The images used were taken by Joshua Prezant for the University of Miami and have been provided for press usage.
Source:  Janette Neuwahl Tannen (University of Miami)