[vip_students] FW: [access-uk] Retinal implant restores vision for eight blind people | The Verge

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Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2013 17:36:18 -0000

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From: access-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Gordon Keen
Sent: 28 February 2013 14:35
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Retinal implant restores vision for eight blind people
| The Verge


It may be getting closer

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/21/4012480/alpha-ims-retinal-prosthesis-resto
res-vision-for-eight-blind-people

Retinal implant restores vision for eight blind people


Last week we heard about the Argus II, a device that can restore partial
sight to some blind people, and this week a new retinal prosthesis is
promising to go one step further. While the Argus II relies on glasses, an
externally-mounted video camera, and a separate processing box, the Alpha
IMS system detects light coming into the eye via electrodes implanted
underneath the patient's retina, before feeding it into a microchip that
sends the signals to the brain. The brain then processes the data as it
would organic signals from a healthy eye, and the patient sees a black and
white image. There's also a dial fitted behind the ear for adjusting
brightness, and the whole system is powered wirelessly by a pocket battery.

Developed by researchers at the University of Tübingen, Germany, the Alpha
IMS has a few benefits over the Argus II. It has 1,500 electrodes compared
to the Argus II's 60, offering much higher resolution and clarity. Because
it's implanted behind the retina, patients can look around naturally by
moving their eyes  the Argus II requires its wearer to turn their head.
It's also able to take advantage of the "natural processing power" of the
neurons in the retina, which help to process motion and contrast. The Alpha
IMS can't help everyone, unfortunately. Only patients that lose vision
through diseases that destroy the eye's light-detecting cells are able to
benefit from the prosthesis  if the vision-processing parts of the nervous
system are damaged then the device has nothing to send its data to.

Patients were able to recognize fine details like facial expressions

Nine patients have already been fitted with Alpha IMS prostheses, of which
eight implants were successful. The final patient's optic nerve head was
touched during surgery, resulting in implant failure. First-hand accounts
from the patients successfully fitted with the implant have extremely
encouraging. Close-up, previously-blind patients were able to detect mouth
shapes such as smiles; the absence or presence of glasses on the face of a
passer-by; objects such as telephones and cutlery; and even finer details
such as signs on doors. In the far-vision range, patients could make out the
horizon line, houses, trees, and rivers. Cars were located based on their
bright reflections, while at night one patient was able to recognize moving
cars by their headlights.

It's obviously early days for the Alpha IMS. Following the nine-patient
pilot, additional testing has begun at centers in the UK, Hong Kong, and
Hungary, with a focus on discerning the long-term stability and safety of
the implant. Researchers are also hoping to develop teaching methods to help
improve patients' visual recognition abilities.


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[vip_students] FW: [access-uk] Retinal implant restores vision for eight blind people | The Verge

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