Following on from the first part of a look at stem cells and their application in ophthalmology (see July/August issue online at http://www.oteurope.com/) A.T., a 45-year-old woman patient, came to see Dr Lombardi and Dr Belilli in March 2007 for a wet maculopathy affecting both eyes,
with the left eye worse than the right eye. She reported that she had undergone photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in 2001
(refractive and aberrometric treatment) for a modest myopia.
In October 2005, further to an examination, she was diagnosed with maculopathy of the left eye and subsequently underwent
eight sessions of photodynamic therapy, with the tragic outcome of the vision in her left eye being reduced from 8/10 to finger
count at 10 cm.
When Professor Lombardi's team first saw her back on 5th March, 2007 they observed the following clinical picture:
- anterior segment of the eyeball:- Right Eye : v.n. 5/10 corrected with (-1.5 -0.5) 9/10
- Left Eye : central scotoma, insecure finger count at 10 cm
- Intraocular segment: 00 pressure (both eyes): 11 mmHg
Figure 1: Visual field.
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- posterior segment of the eyeball:- Both Eyes : diffused choroidosis
- Right Eye : modest paramacular epitheliopathy
- Left Eye : disc-shaped sero-haemorragic macular degeneration with bleeding at the posterior pole
Figure 2: Results of a vision test on June 25th 2007.
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The patient underwent a homotoxicologic-organotherapeutic and bio-electronic therapy for 3 months (approx. 10 retrobulbar
each eye injections) prior to treatment with autologous stem cells.Once this therapeutic cycle was completed, a vision test
was taken which gave the following results (see Figure 2):
Treatment with autologous stem cells was performed on April 25th 2008. The patient was administered approx. 4 ml of stem cells
in one deep retrobulbar injection.
Outcome
Figure 3: Post-treatment ultrasound on May 23rd 2008.
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The visual field has significantly improved both in terms of peripheral vision and specific Macula-Threshold test.
This was followed by a visus improvement of the right eye with a -1.5 -0.5 correction (110°)→ 10/10 and of the left eye with a -1.5 -1.5 correction (170°)→
1/50 wide.
The Macula-Threshold test is particularly important as regards photosensibility indexes directly related to the "bio-energetic
index" of retinal photo-receptors, since it shows two things:
Figure 4: On June 25th, 2008, a check-up of the visual field gave the following result, which can be clearly and easily compared
with the previous one:
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1. when the numeric value was reduced compared to average, there is no doubt that a damaged photo-receptor was replaced or
the stem cells present on retinal tissue were re-activated through 'Bio-resonance.'
2. when the value was below 28-30, at the level of the visual field, the photo-receptor involved was probably 'Bio-energised'
through 'Bio-resonance,' thereby increasing its absolute sensibility levels.
Figure 5: Comparison between pre- treatment and post-treatment visual field (at 2 months):
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In addition to this positive outcome, Dr Lombardi alsoreports seeing some early positive results recorded in patients affected
by pigmentary retinopathy. He hopes to publish these, once they have reached a significant number of cases.
Conclusions
Figure 6: Comparison between pre- treatment and post-treatment visual field (at 3 months):
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Over the last few years, Dr Lombardi firmly believes a new era of medicine has begun, whch he calls 'Regenerative Medicine.'
"We are putting all our efforts in this new frontier with pride and satisfaction, as wehave done with other breakthroughs
in ophthalmology in the past and we are now starting to reap the fruit of this work.
"Day after day we have been perfecting both the preparatory stage and the stem cell treatment itself. So, we will return to
this issue with new articles and updates on ongoing treatments and results."
