IEEI faculty member, M. Soledad Cortina, MD, is an internationally known expert in artificial cornea transplantation. The most common artificial cornea is the Boston Keratoprosthesis Type 1 (KPro). It involves the full-thickness removal of the cornea and replacement with an artificial cornea. The KPro procedure is used to restore sight in patients with corneal blindness that are not amenable to traditional corneal transplantation. On March 28, 2019, Dr. Cortina launched the inaugural KPro program in Cairo, performing the first KPro transplant on a patient in Egypt. The surgery was a success and the patient is seeing well. The procedure took place at Ain Shams University with the help of the Boston KPro program that generously donated the implant device. Dr. Cortina wishes to thank Sherif Elwan, MD, head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Ain Shams University for his strong support and Tarek El-Mamoun, MD, PhD and Mouamen M. Seleet, MD, FRCS, the retina and glaucoma surgeons from Ain Shams who participated in the surgery.
For the past two years. Dr. Cortina has been training her international fellow, Faris Karas, MD, to develop the clinical and surgical skills necessary to perform the KPro procedure. Now that his fellowship is complete, Dr. Karas can take over the reins of the KPro or Artificial Cornea Program launched on March 18, and offer patients in Egypt this potentially sight restoring procedure.
Drs. Elwan and Cortina
The Ain Shams KPro team, including Dr. Cortina (front row, center) and Dr. Karas (back row, 2nd from right).
