Implant May Save Vision, Lives

People with eye cancer face the prospect of losing their eyesight and even their lives. But a new procedure could keep them alive and their vision intact.

Bill Grieb, a husband of 37 years and a grandfather of six, first noticed something wrong with his vision on the golf course. The avid golfer suddenly couldn't focus on the ball.

"It looked like when someone would take a flash photo of you," said Grieb. "It was the bright flash in your eye. … And I thought it was the reflection of the sun off my glasses."

However, when Grieb went to fix the problem, he found out that it was much worse.

"He went to get a new pair of golf glasses for a golf trip coming up and that's how the melanoma was discovered," said LaVonne Grieb, Bill's wife.

Hoping to save his life and his sight, Grieb went to The Cleveland Clinic, where physicians were testing an implant designed to treat eye cancer.

"For certain tumors, this may be superior to what's currently available in the U.S.," said Dr. Arun Singh, who works at The Cleveland Clinic.

In the procedure, surgeons place the implant at the base of the tumor and inside the lining of the eye, where it targets the tumor with a predetermined dose of radiation. When the cancer cells die from exposure to the radiation, doctors remove with implant.

Singh said the targeted radiation is the key to preventing extensive damage to the eye.

"There is a better likelihood of saving vision because the radiation is focused on the tumor, not so much to the optic nerve and other parts that are important for vision."

The technology was used in East Germany many years ago, and is now used widely in Europe, Singh said. But the implant is just now making its way to a few American hospitals.

As for Grieb, he said he was seeing the benefits a few months after having his operation.

"All in all, I think it's going exactly as planned," he said.

In fact, he was seeing so well that he even made it back to the fairways.

"The golf trip came off," he said. "I ended up going on the golf trip."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.