The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 09, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 20, 1996
Billie M York, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Jon C Nixon, Fort Worth, TX (US);
Karen C Sams, Arlington, TX (US);
Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Fort Worth, TX (US);
Abstract
The intraocular use of combinations of lens epithelial cell growth stimulators (e.g., TGF-.beta.) and antimetabolites (e.g., mitomycin C) is described. The combination is applied to the capsular bag to prevent or retard the formation of secondary cataracts following cataract surgery. The lens epithelial cell stimulators activate DNA synthesis in dormant lens epithelial cells, and thereby make those cells susceptible to the anti-metabolites. This enables the antimetabolites to suppress the proliferation of lens epithelial cells to a much greater extent, relative to the proliferation observed when the metabolites alone are utilized. The increased suppression of the growth of lens epithelial cells results in a significant improvement in the ability to prevent or retard the formation of opacities on the lens capsule (i.e., secondary cataracts).