Breakthrough Artificial Retina Nears FDA Approval

It?s been three years since Barbara Campbell first had an electrode array implanted on the back of her eye. She wears it every time she leaves the house, using it to navigate around New York City. After being blind for more than a decade, the artificial retina has partially restored Barbara?s sight, and she delights in the fact that her vision is still improving in subtle ways.

The creators of the Argus II?the device that has helped Campbell to regain some sight?won a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award in 2010. Now the device, which has been in clinical trials since 2008, is getting closer to being able to help people beyond Campbell. Earlier this month, the FDA voted unanimously to recommend Argus for approval. Mark Humayun, the biological engineer who co-invented the Argus II, says that the team expects FDA approval within the next few months, and thinks the technology could be marketed to U.S. patients in 2013.

For Cambpell and a few other Argus test subjects who attended the FDA hearing, the ruling was a victory. "The more people that can use [the Argus II], the more research that can go into it, and the more advances it can make," she says. "It?s a win-win for everybody."

The device uses a sunglass-mounted camera to capture an image, and then translates the image into a pattern of signals. The signals are sent to an array of 60 electrodes implanted at the back of the eye. The electrodes fire, stimulating the retinal cells that collect light in a healthy eye. The brain interprets those pulses into an image.

Humayun says his team is now working to increase the implant?s from 60 electrodes to 240 or more, which is expected to increase the resolution of the image it creates. The team has also found a way to restore some color vision to users of the device; this feature could be incorporated into future generations of the technology.

For Barbara, that would be a dream come true. "I would love color," she says. "I really miss seeing color." For now, though, she?s already enjoying things she never thought she would again. One day, eight months ago, as she walked along East 85th Street she noticed something glinting. "I realized, ?Oh this is the railing on the ramp to the gym.? I hadn?t seen that before. It was exciting. Now I can look for that as a landmark as I come down the block."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/breakthrough-artificial-retina-nears-fda-approval-13781574?src=rss

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