VOA健康报道2023 美国实验性手术有望治疗眼睛损伤（在线收听）

Experimental Treatment Promises to Heal Some Eye Injuries

美国实验性手术有望治疗眼睛损伤

In 2017, a workplace accident resulted in Phil Durst losing sight in his left eye.

2017年，一场工作事故导致菲尔·德斯特左眼失明。

He experienced severe pain from the incident which left him unable to tolerate light. He also experienced severe headaches four or five times a day.

这次事故让他感到剧烈疼痛，并导致他无法忍受光线。他每天还会出现四五次剧烈头痛。

Then he underwent an experimental operation that aims to treat severe injuries in one eye with stem cells from the other eye.

然后他接受了一项实验性手术，旨在用另一只眼睛的干细胞治疗另一只眼睛的严重损伤。

Durst said he went from being completely blind to seeing well enough to drive. Regaining his sight was an emotional experience for the 51-year-old from Homewood, Alabama.

杜斯特说，他从完全失明到视力足够驾驶汽车。对于这位来自阿拉巴马州霍姆伍德的51岁的老人来说，重见光明是一次激动人心的经历。

Durst was one of four patients to get stem cell transplants as part of the first study to test the method in the United States. Although additional treatment is needed, experts say the stem cell transplant offers hope to people who are not getting results from other methods.

作为美国首次疗法测试研究的一部分，杜斯特是四名接受干细胞移植患者中的一员。虽然需要额外的治疗，但专家表示，干细胞移植为那些别无他法的人们带来了希望。

The experimental research results were published recently in Science Advances. A larger study is underway.

这项实验性研究结果最近发表在《科学进展》上。同时一项更大规模的研究正在进行中。

The operation is designed to treat "limbal stem cell deficiency." It is a disorder of part of the eye called the cornea. The problem happens after chemical burns and other injuries. Limbal cells are needed to keep the outer surface of the cornea healthy. Patients without limbal cells cannot have corneal transplants that are commonly used to improve sight.

这项手术旨在治疗“角膜缘干细胞缺乏症”，这是眼睛角膜部分的一种疾病。这种问题发生在化学烧伤和其他伤害之后。角膜外层的健康需要角膜细胞。没有角膜缘细胞的患者不能进行角膜移植，这是常用来改善视力的手段。

Dr. Ula Jurkunas is an ophthalmologist at the treatment center Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the main researcher for the study. She said the experimental method involves taking a few stem cells from the healthy eye, then expanding them and growing them on a graft. The research took place at a laboratory at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

 乌拉·尤尔库纳斯医生是马萨诸塞州波士顿市大众眼耳治疗中心的眼科医生。她是这项研究的主要研究员。她说，这种实验性方法包括从健康的眼睛中提取一些干细胞，然后将其扩增并在移植物上生长。这项研究是在波士顿癌症研究所的一个实验室进行的。

A few weeks later, the grafts are transplanted into the injured eye. Durst was the first patient to undergo the operation.

几周后，移植物被移植到受伤的眼睛里。德斯特是第一个接受手术的病人。

"The great part of it is that we're using a patient's own tissue," not donor tissue the body might reject, Jurkunas said.

尤尔库纳斯说：“最重要的是，我们使用的是患者自己的组织，”而不是身体可能会排斥的供体组织。

She said this method is better than a different operation that takes a very large piece of stem cells from a healthy eye for use on an injured eye – but risks damaging the good eye.

她说，这种方法比从健康的眼睛中取出一大块干细胞用于受伤的眼睛的另一种疗法要好，但是存在损伤健康眼睛的风险。

Both of Durst's eyes were hurt in the accident. For six to eight months, his sight was so bad that his wife or son had to lead him around. But his right eye was less injured than his left one and could provide stem cells for the transplant.

德斯特的两只眼睛都在事故中受伤。在六到八个月的时间里，他的视力非常差，以至于他的妻儿不得不领着他四处走动。但他的右眼比左眼受伤轻，可以为移植提供干细胞。

Jurkunas also works with Harvard Medical School. She said Durst's 2018 operation was the product of almost 20 years of research. She said the researchers were happy to finally do the operation.

尤尔库纳斯还跟哈佛医学院合作。她说，德斯特2018年做的手术是近20年研究的成果。她说，研究人员很高兴终于做了这项手术。

All patients in the study reported that their cornea surfaces improved to normal. Durst and another patient were then able to get transplants of man-made corneas. Two others reported improved sight with the stem cell transplant alone. A fifth patient did not receive the operation because the stem cells were not able to expand enough.

研究中的所有患者都报告称，他们的角膜表面已恢复正常。随后，德斯特和另一名患者得以进行人造角膜移植。另外两人报告称，光做了干细胞移植就提高了视力。第五名患者没有接受手术，因为干细胞不能充分扩增。

Durst said the vision in his right eye is nearly normal but the vision in his left could improve. He will have another operation in September to correct it.

德斯特说，他的右眼视力几乎正常，但左眼的视力有待改善。他将在9月份进行另一次手术来纠正这种情况。

Researchers are finishing the next step of the clinical trial, which includes 15 patients.

研究人员正在完成下一步的临床试验，该试验包括15名患者。

Jurkunas estimates that 1,000 people in the U.S. could be helped every year by this sort of stem cell transplant. The treatment has also been studied in Japan.

尤尔库纳斯估计，美国每年有1000人可以通过这种干细胞移植得到帮助。日本也对这种治疗方法进行了研究。