Cornea - I Free Papers - aioseducation

Cornea Free Papers
Regarding the duration taken by epithelial defects to heal we see that 8 out
of 20 patients had their epithelial defect healed in 2 weeks (40%), and 4 out
of 20 healed within one week, thus a total of 12(60%) healed within 2 weeks
suggesting the treatment to be effective. There have been no side effects noted
during the entire period of our study suggesting the umbilical cord serum
eye-drops to be safe for the use on ocular surface.
Epithelial defect did not recur in patients who responded to umbilical cord
serum eye-drops, after 6 months of follow up showing that epithelial wound
healing was complete.
DISCUSSION
The cornea produces multiple growth factors such as epidermal growth
factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF), neurotrophic growth factor
which contribute to the maintenance of a healthy epithelial surface and its
regeneration. Persistent epithelial defects is rare but has serious complications.
It has been seen that deficiency of essential tears components such as epidermal
growth factors (EGF), vitamin A, neurotrophic growth factors (NGF) such as
substance P, acetylcholine may exacerbate the lesions.
Umbilical cord serum owes its efficacy to the presence of factors such as EGF,
vitamin A, acidic and basic FGF, fibronectin, nerve growth factor, substance P,
antiproteases like α2 macroglobulin, and enhanced mucin expression due to
the serum. 7 The mechanism of action of umbilical cord serum is likely to be
the same as that of autologous serum, the difference being probably a higher
concentration of the growth factors, which may in fact stimulate a faster
growth of stem cells and hence lead to a faster re-epithelialisation.
The results are comparable with the study of Yoon et al (2005) who performed
the study on 14 patients with persistent epithelial defect of various etiologies
and found umbilical cord serum to be effective in 6 patients (42.9%) and partially
effective in 6 patients (42.9%). Umbilical serum treatment has several clinical
advantages, firstly,by obtaining a large quantity of umbilical cord blood from
mothers, the serum can be supplied to many patients. Second, umbilical cord
serum eyedrops can be prepared in advance, thereby shortening the waiting
period for the patients. Finally,even when taking the blood from the patients
themselves is difficult due to poor general condition, umbilical cord serum
remains a feasible option.
Recently Vajpayee et al have reported that since umbilical cord serum contains
a higher concentrations of EGF, Vitamin A, acidic and basic FGF, fibronectin,
NGF, substance P, and antiproteases like alpha 2 macroglobulins, it may be
more useful for the treatment of the ocular surface than autologous serum.
They also reported that the recovery was faster using umbilical cord serum,
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