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Astonishing bionic enables blind to see
Tuesday November 22, 2011 06:46:32 PM,
IANS
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London: Limited trials
of a bionic eye that could restore sight to the blind have
produced "astonishing" results, says a new study.
The tiny implantable microchip permitted patients, who had given
up on seeing again, read a clock and identify daily objects.
The wafer-thin device is to be implanted for the first time in
Oxford and London, with surgery scheduled within weeks, the Daily
Mail reported.
If these and similar operations in Europe validate the efficacy of
the device, manufactured by a German firm Retina Implant, it could
be available by 2013.
Most of the middle-aged patients were to be treated for retinitis
pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that destroys the light-sensitive
retina at the back of the eye.
A microchip packed with 1,500 light sensors is implanted to the
back of the eye, to restore sight to those who lost it to the
disease.
The sensors convert light to electrical signals, which stimulate
nerves in the retina to pass down signals to optic nerve which
would gap into the brain to form an image.
Robert MacLaren, surgeon who led the trial, cautioned that the
surgery is still experimental and the device does not work in all
cases.
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