StemCell Therapy

A surgeon at UPMC Mercy hospital implanted a wireless chip designed to act like a small, artificial retina in the eye of an Ohio woman last week in the first trial of the technology in the United States.

The treatment could offer a novel way to restore the sight of people around the world at risk of going permanently blind, according to UPMC.

The U.S. clinical trial that began this month aims to restore at least partial sight to patients with age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, the leading cause of vision loss in people age 50 and over. More than 14 million Americans are losing their ability to see because of it.

We are proud to be the first center in the United States to test this next generation retinal implant that could help treat an incurable disease like AMD, said Dr. Jos-Alain Sahel, director of the UPMC Eye Center, the Eye and Ear Foundation chair of ophthalmology and distinguished professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Researchers hope the same system can be applied to a variety of other causes of vision loss.

Dr. Joseph Martel, the implanting surgeon and the trials principal investigator, described the effort as an incredibly exciting first for us at UPMC. He thanked the patient for participating. She was not identified.

In coming months, four more patients will join her in the trial.

A related trial involving five patients in France was the first human trial of its kind. The trial found that, after a 12-month period, most patients were able to identify sequences of letters and experienced no device-related, serious adverse effects, according to UPMC.

It will likely be at least several years and require multiple clinical trials until such a product obtains the clearances required to make it to the broader market.

Pixium-Animation-02 from pixium on Vimeo.

The system, called PRIMA, was invented by Stanford University ophthalmology professor Daniel Palanker.

First, a surgeon places a 2-by-2-millimeter, 30-micron thick thinner than the average strand of human hair wireless chip beneath the damaged retina. The chip works with augmented reality glasses that have a built-in camera and infrared projector.

The chip acts like an artificial retina, researchers said. Its made of 378 electrodes, which convert infrared light from the classes into electrical signals that the optic nerve carries to the brain.

After getting the implant, patients go through an intensive rehabilitation program that trains their brains to understand and interpret the signals from the implant, with help from any remaining natural vision.

An existing retinal device on the market involves an implant that connects to goggles via a physical wire and has nearly four times fewer electrodes. California-based Second Sight also is researching improving eyesight via an implant attached to the brain.

The PRIMA implant was developed and licensed by Pixium Vision, a spin-off from the Paris Vision Institute at Sorbonne University.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, [emailprotected] or via Twitter .

TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.

Link:
UPMC, Pitt test out wireless eyeball implant in hopes of restoring lost sight - TribLIVE

This entry was posted on January 15, 2020 at 1:43 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |