Will Retinal Implants Restore Vision?

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 295; no. 5557; pp. 1022 - 1025
• Main Author: Zrenner, Eberhart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 08.02.2002; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Amacrine cells; Animals; Artificial vision; Artificial vision devices; Assistive Technology; Biological and medical sciences; Blindness; Blindness - surgery; Bodybuilding: The Bionic Human; Brain; Care and treatment; Clinical Trials as Topic; Electric Stimulation; Electrodes; Electrodes, Implanted; Eye Movements; Eyes & eyesight; Ganglia; Humans; Images of transformations; Implants; Information Processing; Light; Medical research; Medical sciences; Neurons; Optics; Organ transplantation; Patients; Photoreceptors; Prostheses and Implants; Retina; Retina - surgery; Spatial resolution; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgery of the eye and orbit; Tissue transplantation; Transplantation; Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc; Transplants & implants; Vision; Vision disorders; Vision, Ocular; Visual cortex; Visual Cortex - physiology; Visual Perception; United States; Human; Eye disease; Implant; Vision disorder; Surgery; Retina; Degeneration; Electrical component; Biomedical engineering
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1067996

A number of research groups are developing electrical implants that can be attached directly to the retina in an attempt to restore vision to patients suffering from retinal degeneration. However, despite promising results in animal experiments, there are still several major obstacles to overcome before retinal prostheses can be used clinically.