Retinal Prosthesis for the Blind

Margalit, Eyal; Maia, Mauricio; Weiland, James D; Greenberg, Robert J; Fujii, Gildo Y; Torres, Gustavo; Piyathaisere, Duke V; O'Hearn, Thomas M; Liu, Wentai; Lazzi, Gianluca; Dagnelie, Gislin; Scribner, Dean A; de Juan, Eugene; Humayun, Mark S

« Previous Next »Survey of Ophthalmology
Volume 47, Issue 4 , Pages 335-356, July 2002

Retinal Prosthesis for the Blind

Eyal Margalit, MD, PhD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Mauricio Maia, MD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
James D Weiland, PhD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Robert J Greenberg, MD, PhD
- Second Sight LLC, Valencia, CA USA
Gildo Y Fujii, MD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Gustavo Torres, MD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Duke V Piyathaisere, BS
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Thomas M O'Hearn, BS
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Wentai Liu, PhD
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC USA
Gianluca Lazzi, PhD
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC USA
Gislin Dagnelie, PhD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Dean A Scribner, PhD
- Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA
Eugene de Juan Jr, MD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
Mark S Humayun, MD, PhD
- Intraocular Prosthesis Group, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD USA
- Reprint address: Mark Humayun MD, PhD, The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Maumenee 738, 600 N Wolf St, Baltimore, MD, 21287-9277

Abstract

Most of current concepts for a visual prosthesis are based on neuronal electrical stimulation at different locations along the visual pathways within the central nervous system. The different designs of visual prostheses are named according to their locations (i.e., cortical, optic nerve, subretinal, and epiretinal). Visual loss caused by outer retinal degeneration in diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration can be reversed by electrical stimulation of the retina or the optic nerve (retinal or optic nerve prostheses, respectively). On the other hand, visual loss caused by inner or whole thickness retinal diseases, eye loss, optic nerve diseases (tumors, ischemia, inflammatory processes etc.), or diseases of the central nervous system (not including diseases of the primary and secondary visual cortices) can be reversed by a cortical visual prosthesis. The intent of this article is to provide an overview of current and future concepts of retinal and optic nerve prostheses. This article will begin with general considerations that are related to all or most of visual prostheses and then concentrate on the retinal and optic nerve designs. The authors believe that the field has grown beyond the scope of a single article so cortical prostheses will be described only because of their direct effect on the concept and technical development of the other prostheses, and this will be done in a more general and historic perspective..

Keywords: artificial vision, blindness, cortical prosthesis, electrical stimulation, electronic implants, macular degeneration, optic nerve, optic nerve prosthesis, retina, retinal prosthesis, retinitis pigmentosa, visual cortex, visual prosthesis