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Abstract:
(Invited talks)
We are developing an experimental retinal implant device in the
hope of restoring some degree of vision to patients suffering from
outer retinal diseases, primarily retinitis pigmentosa and macular
degeneration. In these illnesses the rods and cones fail, but
healthy retinal ganglion cells remain capable of carrying visual
signals to the brain. The implant will receive both signal and
power by wireless transmission from an external source and provide
spatially patterned electrical stimulation to the retina through a
microelectrode array. In the past year we have carried out acute
surgical trials on three blind human volunteers and have begun a
collaboration with the San Raffaele in Milano to begin similar
experiments there. In these trials a thin, flexible microfabricated
electrode array is laid against the patient's retina under local
anaesthesia. Spatially patterned electrical stimuli are applied
through the array and the patient describes the visual percepts
that result. At this stage the entire device is removed from the
eye following surgery. We will also describe surgical techniques,
biocompatibility experiments and in-vitro and in-vivo
electrophysiological studies carried out over the past ten years.
More information is available on the project web site:
http://rleweb.mit.edu/
retina
John Wyatt is Co-Director of the Retinal Implant Project and
Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT. Apart from this work,
his interests include circuit theory, nonlinear systems, analog
VLSI for machine vision, neural networks and electrical noise in
nonlinear circuits.
Joseph Rizzo, M.D. is Co-Director of the Retinal Implant
Project. He is Board-certified in both Neurology and
Ophthalmology and currently divides his time equally between a
clinical practice in neuro-ophthalmology and the retinal implant
project, with primary responsibility for experiments on in-vivo
electrical stimulation of the retina, surgical methods and
biocompatibility.
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