|
||||||||||||
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai Launches New Genetic Service For UAE |
||||||||||||
|
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, has launched a new service in the UAE to provide patients with genetic testing and enable access to the latest information on drug and gene therapy trials to treat inherited eye diseases. Dr. Mariya Moosajee, the consultant ;launching the service, is a Consultant Ophthalmologist from Moorfields Eye Hospital London a researcher specialising in Genetic Eye Disease, and a Visiting Consultant to Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai. The Dubai team is working closely with Moorfields, London, where the blood samples from UAE patients undergo genetic testing, to ensure patients here have access to the same quality of bioinformatics and clinical expertise for identifying the disease gene and mutation, as patients treated in London. Her first UAE patients for genetic services are two siblings (9-year old Mohammed and 11-year old Eryam), who both have an early onset severe retinal dystrophy. The retina is the light-sensing layer of the eye that converts light to chemical signals that pass to the brain via the optic nerve to help us see. The siblings hereditary eye disease is caused by a harmful change in a gene that affects the retina, this leads to reduction of the calibre of the blood vessels supplying the retina, a pale optic nerve, widespread pigment deposition in the retina and thinning of the area of central vision called the macula. The siblings and their family, resident in Abu Dhabi but originally from Syria, were advised to look at the option of genetic testing to determine the causative gene and to qualify for potential research and treatment trials. The family has decided to go forward with Moorfields for a clinically accredited genetic test called the Oculome, a next generation sequencing exome gene panel that screens over 450 known eye disease causing genes, including 240 which are specifically related to retinal-disease. She can provide a molecular diagnosis for a range of genetic eye conditions including retinal, corneal, optic nerve diseases, birth eye defects, albinism and nystagmus, complex strabismus, childhood glaucoma and cataracts. The results will take 4-6 months to produce and then once Dr. Mariya can confirm the genetic cause, she will be able to discuss the latest research into understanding the disease and treatment trial options available. It can also help with family planning for the future. |
||||||||||||
