Advanced Eye Surgery for a Child with a Rare Genetic Disease
General
21
November
On Wednesday morning, 13 November 2019, the ophthalmology surgery team at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh has successfully performed a surgery using a gene therapy drug (Luxturna) for a 9-year-old girl suffering from severe visual impairment since birth due to hereditary retinopathy which is caused by a rare genetic disease.
Dr. Hail Alabdely, Chief Medical Officer at KFSH&RC in Riyadh, explained that this is the first operation of its kind to be performed for a child in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pointing out that KFSH&RC has advanced laboratories specialized in genetic testing which enables to identify the affected genes in various diseases including hereditary eye diseases.
He further stated that preparations are in progress to establish a collaboration with King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital to manage such cases.
Dr. Alabdely explained that the child who underwent the operation was medically monitored and diagnosed by Dr. Selwa Al-Hazzaa, Ophthalmology Consultant, Chairman of Ophthalmology Department at KFSH&RC, and an expert in genetic eye diseases, while the operation was performed by Dr. Mohammed bin Khuthaila.
Dr. Mohammed bin Khuthaila, Ophthalmology Consultant, mentioned that the operation required techniques and high surgical accuracy, pointing out that this new drug is specific to patients with a defect in gene (RPE65) only and that the drug stabilizes vision and stop vision loss which eventually leads to total blindness.
It is noteworthy that the child was suffering from severe visual impairment since birth and underwent medical tests at KFSH&RC. By examination of samples at the genetic laboratory, the child was found to have a rare genetic disease due to a defect in gene (RPE65), which requires surgical injection with (Luxturna) that has been recently approved by (FDA) and the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.