Scientists invent eye implant to help blind patients see again

Scientists have invented an eye implant to help blind patients see again by partly restoring central vision crucial to reading and other everyday tasks.

The device helped 81 per cent of trial participants suffering from advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to achieve clinically meaningful improvements in their vision, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Monday.

The technology, which targeted a form of AMD known as geographic atrophy, is part of an increasing drive to make prosthetic implants for organs, including the brain, to restore lost physical abilities.

“This study confirms that, for the first time, we can restore functional central vision in patients blinded by geographic atrophy,” said Frank Holz, the paper’s lead author and chair of the ophthalmology department at the University Hospital of Bonn. “The implant represents a paradigm shift in treating late-stage age-related macular degeneration.”

AMD is the result of damage to the retina, which detects light and transforms it into signals to the brain. AMD can severely damage central vision — the aspect of sight through which we perceive objects of interest directly ahead, such as other people, text or the road while driving. Geographic atrophy is estimated to affect millions of people worldwide and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in older people.

The new technology includes a camera mounted on special glasses worn by the wearer that captures images and projects them on to the 2mm by 2mm wireless retinal implant. The implant then converts the light into electrical pulses to send to the brain.

Scientists found that 84 per cent of a group of 32 AMD sufferers who had the implant, reported using prosthetic vision at home for reading numbers or words. On average, participants improved by 25 letters — or about five lines — on a standard eye chart when using the device. One participant could go 59 letters, or almost 12 lines, deeper than before.

“It’s the first time that any attempt at vision restoration has achieved such results in a large number of patients,” said José-Alain Sahel, senior author of the study and chair of the ophthalmology department at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “More than 80 per cent of the patients were able to read letters and words, and some of them are reading pages in a book.”

The research was financed by Science Corporation, the US business that makes the device according to a design by Daniel Palanker, professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University. The company has applied for clinical use authorisation for the product in the US and Europe.

Science Corp said it did not have an estimate for how much the devices and medical procedures to implant them would cost, as this would be a matter for negotiation with government and other users. It wanted a “reasonable and fair price that makes it available to the broadest number of possible beneficiaries”, it added.