Eye Implant and Special Glasses Enables Reading for Some Blind Patients: Study

The people suffer from age-related macular degeneration.

Research found that one in every 10 individuals aged 40 and above suffers from age-related macular degeneration. fizkes/Shutterstock

Some legally blind patients who received an eye implant and used special glasses saw their sight restored, according to a newly published study.

Twenty-seven of 32 participants who completed a clinical trial used the vision system tested in the trial to read numbers and words, researchers said in the study, which was published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Oct. 20.

The open-label, multicenter, prospective trial assessed a system dubbed photovoltaic retina implant microarray, or PRIMA, which was developed by Stanford Medicine.

Participants suffer from advanced age-related macular degeneration, which can cause blindness that has been described as incurable. The American Macular Degeneration Foundation says that about 20 million people in the United States suffer from the condition, and 1 million have geographic atrophy, an advanced form of the degeneration.

The PRIMA implant is made up of crystalline silicon consisting of hundreds of photovoltaic pixels. A camera mounted on the special glasses captures images and projects them onto the implant using near-infrared light. The implant converts the light into electrical pulses to stimulate retinal cells, restoring “the flow of visual information,” the researchers said.

A small study featuring five participants found encouraging signs with the system, prompting the larger trial. Participants live in one of five European countries. All were at least 60 years of age and were diagnosed with geographic atrophy in both eyes as a result of age-related macular degeneration.

The trial primarily measured improvement in vision from the start to 12 months later. Patients reported results through surveys.

Of the 38 people who enrolled, three died, and others withdrew or were unavailable for testing. Of the 32 people who were left, 27 could read letters, numbers, and words, while 26 showed the ability to read at least two more lines on a standard eye chart, according to the researchers. Twenty-two of the participants said they were moderately or highly satisfied with the PRIMA system.

“All previous attempts to provide vision with prosthetic devices resulted in basically light sensitivity, not really form vision,” Daniel Palanker, a professor of ophthalmology at Stanford and a co-senior author of the paper, said in a statement. “We are the first to provide form vision.”

José-Alain Sahel, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said: “More than 80% of the patients were able to read letters and words, and some of them are reading pages in a book. This is really something we couldn’t have dreamt of when we started on this journey.”

Side effects, experienced by 19 patients, included tears in the retina and blood collecting under the retina. None were deemed life-threatening, and nearly all resolved within two months.

Science Corp, which is developing PRIMA, was among the funders of the study. Multiple authors reported personally receiving money from the California-based company.

Based on the trial results, the corporation had applied for authorization for PRIMA in Europe.