New procedure helps eyesight in babies

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Sisters Hospital has become the first hospital in western New York to use a new therapy to treat a condition that can rob newborns of their sight. Sisters is leading the way with this sight-saving procedure.

When Teresa Malecki was born, she weighed slightly more than a pound. She developed a serious condition in her eyes, known as retinopathy of prematurity.

Her mom, Lauren Malecki, said, "It's so common in premature babies that they screen her for it. She had an eye exam every week, and then they noticed it was getting worse, it was getting worse, it was getting worse."

It's the leading cause of blindness in premature babies. Something had to be done. The standard treatment is laser surgery, but very recently, another option was shown to be effective.

Neonatologist at Sisters Dr. Rob Dukarm said, "An anti-cancer drug, called Avastin, injected directly into the back of the eye, significantly improved retinopathy of prematurity, and in particular, the severe type of retinopathy of prematurity."

Dr. Dukarm has seen more than 50 babies who were treated with lasers, and it's often hard on the baby.

"They have to be placed back on the ventilator and then you have to get them off the ventilator, and that often takes two to three additional weeks," said Dr. Dukarm.

But the Avastin treatment was brand new.

Dr. Dukarm said, "We never heard of it, nobody, really, had ever heard of it, so it was a big risk to take, but we figured it would benefit her the most."

The procedure was simple. The medicine was injected directly into the back of the eye.

"All we had to do was sedate the baby with some medication so she would not move or feel that, and it was so much easier and the recovery time was essentially nothing. It's priceless; it's really a spectacular therapy. I would love to get this out there for other families to have this option for the babies because it was such a great success story. And it was wonderful that we did it here," said Dr. Dukarm.

Avastin is also used to treat some eye conditions in adults, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The common thread is that all those conditions involve the abnormal growth of new blood vessels inside the eye, and Avastin stops the growth of blood vessels. That's how it works in cancer as well.