Christi Baker, a 49-year-old registered nurse who works at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, had a first-of-its-kind surgery in Tennessee and the Mid-South for the treatment of macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) at Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025.
MacTel is a rare neurodegenerative disease of the retina in adults that causes progressive and irreversible vision loss. The slowly progressing disease affects the blood vessels around the macula in the eyes, resulting in loss of central vision in both eyes. The disease affects less than 1% of the population.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to perform this new procedure because previously there were no other treatment options available for this disease,” said Dr. Salar Rafieetary, a vitreoretinal surgeon with the Charles Retina Institute. “ENCELTO offers hope to patients in slowing the progression of MacTel.”
Baker, who was diagnosed with MacTel in February 2025, was experiencing declining vision in her left eye and knew that she needed treatment to delay the progression of the disease and keep working in the job she loves.
“The idea of not doing what I loved was unimaginable,” said Baker. She also said that she couldn’t fathom not being able to see her family.
“Losing my sight would mean not being able to see simple things like the sun or the sky, flowers, trees, the ocean — all things I love dearly,” Baker continued.
ENCELTO, a rice-sized capsule and cell-based gene therapy implant, releases therapeutic doses of ciliary neurotrophic factor to the retina to assist in slowing the progression of the disease. ENCELTO is the first and only FDA-approved treatment available for MacTel.
“I am now five weeks out and fully recovered,” said Baker. “My vision is back to baseline, the same as before surgery, and as of my follow-up at week four with Dr. Rafieetary, it seems that my scans show improvement! Now we are working to get surgery scheduled for the right eye. If I were asked by someone considering this surgery about my experience, I would say that everything from start to finish exceeded my expectations.”
