4000 burns give twins their sight

By FRANCESCA MOLD

Twins Edmund and Phillip Weetman have been battling for survival from the moment they were born 16 weeks premature.

Weighing only 735 and 805 grams at their birth on December 28, the Takanini twins spent 31/2 months fighting for life in a number of hospitals.

But one of their worst moments came in March, when eye specialists discovered the babies had a condition which, if not treated immediately, would have made them blind.

The condition, retinopathy of prematurity, causes blood vessels in the eye to grow rapidly until they bleed.

The retina, the layer at the back of the eyeball which triggers nerve impulses leading to the brain, then detaches from the eye, causing blindness. The disease is found in about 80 per cent of babies born after around 25 weeks' gestation.

But a new highly sensitive laser treatment meant Edmund and Phillip's sight could be saved.

Details of improvements in laser treatment for retinopathy of prematurity were revealed at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists conference in Palmerston North last week.

Professor Gillian Clover, who was at the conference, operated on the Weetman twins in March. She said the treatment involved painstakingly tracing the outside of the entire retina, applying about 4000 individual laser burns.

If treated in time, the disease would regress completely.

The twins' parents, Lydia Motu and Roger Weetman, said they were thrilled the technology was available.

"We were at the stage when we'd thought they were over the critical part. So it was a very anxious time for us, but we were so pleased something could be done quickly and effectively."

Eye specialists at the conference also heard about major breakthroughs in research on altering genes to prevent hereditary diseases.

Dr Timothy Stout revealed details of American research to identify genes linked to eye disease.

He said many eye conditions developed because key proteins were missing. Many of these conditions could not be treated.

But research was being done on replacing faulty genes, linked to diseases like glaucoma and age degeneration, with "normal" genes by using a virus to infect the original genetic material with a "therapeutic" gene.

Dr Stout said the procedure could be available for use on patients in about two years.