Microchip restores partial sight to blind patients in test.
31 replies, posted
[img]http://s1.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/timewellness/i/timelogo-vert.gif?m=1286128761g[/img]http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/03/an-implanted-retinal-microchip-restores-some-sight-to-blind-patients/
[quote]In a small experiment involving 11 patients, researchers in Germany were able to restore visual ability in three blind patients by implanting a battery-powered chip behind the retina. The three patients, who each suffered from an inherited condition that caused vision loss, were able to distinguish shapes and recognize objects within days after receiving the experimental implant.
The BBC reports:
The best results were achieved with [patient Miikka] Terho, who was able to recognise cutlery and a mug on a table, a clock face and discern seven different shades of grey. He was also able to move around a room independently and approach people.
In further tests he read large letters set out before him, including his name, which had been deliberately misspelled. He soon noticed it had been spelt in the same way as the Finnish racing driver Mika Hakkinnen.
"Three or four days after the implantation, when everything was healed, I was like wow, there's activity," he told the BBC from his home in Finland.
The research was conducted at the Institute for Ophthalmic Research at the University of Tübingen and published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (More on Time.com: PHOTOS: Prostheses for animals)
The experimental chip acts as a retinal prosthesis, mimicking the activity of the light-sensitive cells that have been damaged in blind people with retinal degeneration. The chip converts the light that enters the eye into electrical impulses, which are then delivered to the optic nerve and then onto the brain. In this way, the implant uses most of the eye's natural mechanics, only replacing the cells of the eye that receive light.
If the results of the proof-of-concept study can be replicated, this type of device may someday help improve visual ability in patients with conditions including retinitis pigmentosa, choroideraemia and age-related macular degeneration, which destroy light-sensitive cells, but leave the rest of the eye and visual system intact. (More on Time.com: Best Invention? The 'Eyeborg').
Dr. Eberhart Zrenner, founding director of Retinal Implant AG, the company that makes the subretinal chip, and director and chair of University of Tübingen Eye Hospital, wrote with his colleagues in the new paper: "The results of this pilot study provide strong evidence that the visual functions of patients blinded by a hereditary retinal dystrophy can, in principle, be restored to a degree sufficient for use in daily life."
Read more: [url]http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/03/an-implanted-retinal-microchip-restores-some-sight-to-blind-patients/#ixzz14G9ZZzgl[/url][/quote]
[b][i]Wonderbar![/b][/i]
I see it now.
I see.
Although I am sure it will cost, I am glad I will have a reason to be less wary of going blind one day.
[QUOTE=General_Xing;25836507]I see it now.[/QUOTE]
You dirty pun-editor.
I am looking forward to this!
So that means that Glenn Beck will still be able to see? :(
While these breakthroughs are always great, the question is how affordable it will be for people in need.
The miracles of science.
[QUOTE=Johnnsen;25837004]While these breakthroughs are always great, the question is how affordable it will be for people in need.[/QUOTE]
I'd imagine it wouldn't be very costly, at least components won't be costly, because the trick is to transfer signals from camera to optical nerve, and that is not problem.
[QUOTE=HeatPipe;25837129]I'd imagine it wouldn't be very costly, at least components won't be costly, because the trick is to transfer signals from camera to optical nerve, and that is not problem.[/QUOTE]
If it contains platinum in the chip it could be costly.
I don't know why it should contain platinum because they just need to send electric signals to optic nerve...??
Well, WHERE IS MY MICROCHIP! I CANT SEE 3 INCHES IN FRONT OF ME.
[QUOTE=deathmog;25836951]So that means that Glenn Beck will still be able to see? :([/QUOTE]
whoa whoa whoa, one step at a time, man. technology for that to happen would take decades
[QUOTE=HeatPipe;25837541]I don't know why it should contain platinum because they just need to send electric signals to optic nerve...??[/QUOTE]
Platinum is generally inert, you don't want something that's going to corrode in your eye now do you? You'd wind up losing the damn thing, and where would that get you?
If a microchip did this, then imagine in a few years when we can have them implanted for HUDs. That'd be fucking cool, a GPS in your eye.
I don't see how this is possible
[QUOTE=Killerelf12;25839328]Platinum is generally inert, you don't want something that's going to corrode in your eye now do you? You'd wind up losing the damn thing, and where would that get you?[/QUOTE]
true, forgot about that. but there must be something cheaper material for that thing, it has to exist
It would suck if a microchip failed sometime after and they went back to being blind.
[QUOTE=Mr.Dounut;25837321]If it contains platinum in the chip it could be costly.[/QUOTE]
The sophistication of the technology will probably drive the price up more than the raw materials used to create it.
If they can make this at least as effective as normal vision, and not require an added battery, I'll sign up to have my eyes replaced immediately.
[QUOTE=Johnnsen;25837004]While these breakthroughs are always great, the question is how affordable it will be for people in need.[/QUOTE]
It doesn't matter at this point, as long as they take a step like this over time it will become refined and easier to manufacture thus making it affordable to everyone. But you have to put in mind something like this isn't going to be in GREAT demand because most people are not blind. Though the medical surgery itself is going to be expensive, any type of surgery required by a specialist is a lot.
[QUOTE=General_Xing;25836507]I see it now.[/QUOTE]
Weren't you responsible for the badage boys?
If it's possible to restore vision to the blind, even those who have never seen before I'm curious if it would be possible to create 'new colors' so to speak. Are those individuals perceiving color differently than normal - if so, it would remove any doubt of the existence of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia]qualia[/url].
Perhaps just implants giving the ability to visualize extremities on the color spectrum?
i knew this ages ago, like, 3 years ago they were doing this same thing and getting similar results, why is this news now!??!
[QUOTE=deathmog;25836951]So that means that Glenn Beck will still be able to see? :([/QUOTE]
Don't be mean. As much as an asshole he has been, he doesn't deserve to be blind.
[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;25842601]If it's possible to restore vision to the blind, even those who have never seen before I'm curious if it would be possible to create 'new colors' so to speak. Are those individuals perceiving color differently than normal - if so, it would remove any doubt of the existence of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia]qualia[/url].
Perhaps just implants giving the ability to visualize extremities on the color spectrum?[/QUOTE]
Implants to give you UV and IR light merged into your visible colour spectrum.
No one does. I have reasonably bad vision (-4.00). I can't imagine how it must be being blind, i feel so sorry for them.
As long as they discover it, the price will always trickle down to where consumers can afford it.
