Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2006

News in Brief 37 the surrounding bone. Prof. Giancarlo Falcinelli of Italy, a student of Prof. Strampelli, has refined and improved the procedure. The results have been encouraging and many patients can still keep their vision since their operations more than 20 years ago. Due to its complexity, the procedure is at present performed by fewer than 10 centres in the world. The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences of The Chinese University has started this procedure in Hong Kong and in Shantou at the Joint Shantou International Eye Centre of Shantou University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (JSIEC) in April 2005, with the help of Prof. Falcinelli and his son Dr. Johnny Falcinelli. Like the lens of a camera, the cornea is transparent and can focus light rays on the retina. Degeneration, trauma, chemical burn, infection, inflammation, and allergy are some of the common conditions that can affect the cornea, resulting in scarring and opacities, which result in poor vision. In some situations, medical treatments (e.g. with eye-drops) are enough to clear cloudy vision. However, in certain cases where medical treatments fail, surgery is the next step — corneal transplantation. Yet, in some eyes, the damage is so severe that corneal transplantation does not work. To provide the patient with useful vision, an artificial cornea or ‘keratoprosthesis’ is used. The artificial cornea is made of hard plastic. To fix the plastic prosthesis in place, tissues from the patient’s own body are used. The tooth is ideal because it has a hard part to which the cylinder can be fixed and also it resides in the mouth where it co-exists with soft tissues, as in the eye. OOKP has a success rate of 80–90%. Since April 2005, five patients have completed both the stage-one and stage-two procedures. ‘We estimate that the list of patients would be more than a hundred in Hong Kong and thousands in China,’ said Prof. Dennis Lam, chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Silver Jubilee of the Faculty of Medicine Year 2006 marks the Silver Jubilee of the Faculty of Medicine. The highlight of the Silver Jubilee celebrations was the Silver Jubilee Dinner, held 10 June at the Grand Hall of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Over 1,500 guests including government officials, social dignitaries, as well as friends, benefactors, alumni, staff and students graced their presence. The Honourable Henry Tang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government was the Guest of Honour. The theme of the Silver Jubilee Dinner is Knowledge for Life. The Silver Jubilee celebrates a history of teaching excellence and knowledge advancement. As students embark on a professional medical career, the knowledge they have acquired, which continues to grow through innovation and compassion, will serve both patients and the wider community as they dedicate their own lives to preserving and enriching life. For the past 25 years, the Faculty of Medicine has made great advances in teaching and research, gaining international recognition as a medical centre of excellence and producing over 3,500 medical professionals including doctors, nurses and pharmacists for the community. Former medical deans: ( from left ) Prof. Sydney Chung, Prof. Arthur Li, Prof. Joseph C.K. Lee, Prof. Teik E. Oh, and current medical dean Prof. Fok Tai-fai