Stem cells hold promise, peril in treating seniors' eye disease

Stem cells may offer new hope for people losing their vision to age-related macular degeneration, but that promise can come with some peril, new research shows.
In one report, three older women were permanently blinded at a Florida eye clinic that performed unproven stem cell treatments on their eyes in 2015, said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg. He's chair of ophthalmology for the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
The women all thought the stem cell therapy was part of a clinical trial, but there's no evidence that a genuine clinical trial was taking place, Goldberg noted.
"It appears the patients were lured in with the promise of a research protocol and it's not clear that they were actually signed up for any research," Goldberg said. "They were just injected with these cells of some sort."
The women, aged 72 to 88, each paid $5,000 for the procedure, which should have been a red flag, Goldberg said. Clinical trials typically do not charge patients a fee.
The study appears in the March 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
But stem cells do hold real promise for the treatment of macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss among people aged 50 and older, Goldberg said. A second article in the same journal issue detailed a legitimate effort to restore the sight of a 77-year-old Japanese woman with macular degeneration using stem cells. 
Macular degeneration occurs when either age or illness causes damage to the macula, a small spot near the center of the retina, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute. This part of the eye is crucial for sharp central vision, to see objects right in front of you.
"The cells responsible for vision degenerate, and they're not replaced as part of the natural healing process in humans, or other mammals for this matter," Goldberg said. "The hope of stem cells is that they'll replace the cells that have degenerated and restore vision in these all-too-common and debilitating diseases."
HealthDay

Stem cells hold promise, peril in treating seniors eye disease

Stem cells may offer new hope for people losing their vision to age-related macular degeneration, but that promise can come with some peril, new research shows. In one report, three older women were permanently blinded at a Florida eye clinic that performed unproven stem cell treatments on their eyes in 2015, said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg. Hes chair of ophthalmology for the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. The women all thought the stem cell therapy was part of a clinical trial, but theres no evidence that a genuine clinical trial was taking place, Goldberg noted. It appears the patients were lured in with the promise of a research protocol and its not clear that they were actually signed up for any research, Goldberg said. They were just injected with these cells of some sort. The women, aged 72 to 88, each paid $5,000 for the procedure, which should have been a red flag, Goldberg said. Clinical trials typically do not charge patients a fee. The study appears in the March 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. But stem cells do hold real promise for the treatment of macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss among people aged 50 and older, Goldberg said. A second article in the same journal issue detailed a legitimate effort to restore the sight of a 77-year-old Japanese woman with macular degeneration using stem cells. Macular degeneration occurs when either age or illness causes damage to the macula, a small spot near the center of the retina, according to the U.S. National Eye Institute. This part of the eye is crucial for sharp central vision, to see objects right in front of you. The cells responsible for vision degenerate, and theyre not replaced as part of the natural healing process in humans, or other mammals for this matter, Goldberg said. The hope of stem cells is that theyll replace the cells that have degenerated and restore vision in these all-too-common and debilitating diseases. HealthDay