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Future Retinal Implants to Offer Clearer Vision

from CIRS by

While the current state of the art in retinal implants is better than total blindness, it is still a long way from anything approaching normal vision. But two researchers have teamed up to improve this situation. Wolfgang Fink, associate professor, University of Arizona (Tucson) departments of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, and Erich Schmid, professor emeritus of theoretical atomic and nuclear physics at the University of Tübingen, Germany, are researching new implant design and methods of electrical stimulation of the retina. The team hopes their work will lead to higher-resolution retinal implants, allowing for much clearer images.

Fink presented the team's findings at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Neural Engineering in San Diego in November. The presentations, "Simultaneous vs. Sequential and Unipolar vs. Multipolar Stimulation in Retinal Prostheses" and "Electric Stimulation of Neurons and Neural Networks in Retinal Prostheses," propose new methods for achieving higher resolution images so implant patients can see in greater detail. The team has developed a new method of electrical stimulation that uses microsecond pulses, on-chip counter-electrodes, and the controlled firing of electrodes to shape the electrical field that stimulates the patient's retinal cells.

In an article in the University of Arizona's UA News, Fink says, "Current technologies and methods are far behind what can be done." Fink is working with Tech Launch Arizona to patent the new technology and license it to retinal implant developers.

An MIT Technology Review article from February 2013 describes Second Sight's FDA-approved Argus II system. In May, Susan Young interviewed a recipient of that system, also for the MIT Technology Review.

Another company, Retina Implant AG (Reutlingen, Germany) is also at work on a retinal implant system. Katarina Stingl, MD, ophthalmologist at the Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, presented clinical trial results at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting in November. Stingl’s presentation covered new techniques, approaches, and therapies for treating hereditary retinal degeneration that are not yet available in the United States. The key focus of the presentation was the clinical trial results of Retina Implant's Alpha IMS sub-retinal implant which in July gained the CE mark for implantation in RP patients. These results were also published in 2013 in Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Science.

Fink and Schmid’s anticipate that their research could be applied to a variety of other neural stimulation applications, including for use for deep-brain stimulation and on paralyzed vision.


  

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