According to reports, a new technology involving an eye implant linked to smart glasses helped patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) regain enough vision to read and perform daily tasks requiring central vision. The study, which was published on Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine, included participants aged 60 or older with severe visual impairment, defined as a visual acuity of at least 1.2 logMAR or worse, indicating vision significantly below normal but not total blindness.
AMD cannot be reversed because the light-sensitive cells in the center of the patients’ retina die over time and are not naturally replaced by the body. The study focused on restoring some of that lost vision with the aid of a 2-by-2-millimeter device made of tiny photovoltaic solar panels named a PRIMA device. The technology comes from the brain-computer interface company, Science Corporation.
To begin with, the device was surgically implanted under the patient’s retina. The patients wore special glasses equipped with a mini-camera and a pocket data process, which transmitted zoomed-in images of the world to the retinal implant using near infrared light. The implant then translates the images into electrical signals, stimulating the optic nerve to provide some perception of light and vision to the patient.
The study commenced with 38 patients who were given the retinal implant, 32 of whom stayed in the clinical trial for a full year. Based on the data collected, 26 of the 32 participants could see better than when they started within the one year mark. This was an 80 percent success rate.
Although not perfect, patients can only see a blurry vision of the world and only in black and white. This outcome was considered “amazing” by external researchers considering several factors put in place for the study.
