Scientists are on the brink of restoring sight to the blind by sending moving images directly to the brain.
In a world-first, surgeons have implanted a visual stimulator chip in the brain of a 30-year-old woman.
The
patient, who has been totally blind for seven years, saw coloured
flashes, lines and spots when signals were sent to her brain from a
computer.
The diagram shows how the new bionic
eye would work, sending signals directly to the brain. The computer
sends signals to the antenna, which is connected to the brain
Her
doctors are now planning to send footage from a tiny video camera to
the brain, which could provide the world’s first bionic eye and restore
sight to millions.
The
technology bypasses the eyes, meaning it has the potential to restore
sight even to those who have lost an eye or become blinded by cancer.
During
six weeks of testing, the patient has consistently seen the exact
signals the scientists sent to her visual cortex, the section of the
brain which usually receives images from the optic nerve.
Doctors
at the University of California Los Angeles are awaiting permission
from US regulators to connect the system to a camera, worn in a pair of
glasses, which they hope will send moving images directly to the brain.
Dr
Nader Pouratian, who performed the operation, said: ‘The moment she saw
colour for the first time was a very emotional experience. It touched
us all very deeply as human beings. Based on these results, this system
has the potential to restore sight to the blind.’
The
patient, who has asked to remain anonymous, began to lose her sight
eight years ago due to a rare disease called Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada
syndrome, which attacks the pigment in the eyes. Within a year of
starting to lose her sight she was completely blind. Dr Pouratian
inserted the stimulator – an array of tiny electrodes – into the back of
her brain in August. In a four-hour procedure, surgeons cut a small
hole in the back of her skull and laid the stimulator on the surface of
her brain.
In a world-first, surgeons implanted a
visual stimulator chip in the brain of a 30-year-old woman who saw
flashes, colours and lines. Stock image
A small antenna receiver was implanted into the gap in her skull, which receives signals sent from a computer.
When
the team receives approval from the US Food and Drug Administration,
which they hope will be early next year, they will try sending video
signals from a system called the Orion I, which captures images in front
of the eyes using a camera on the bridge of a pair of glasses.
It
is built on the success of a device called the Argus II, unveiled at
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital last year, which uses a similar camera to
send images to an implant at the back of the eye.
But
it relied on a patient having some working retinal cells. The new
system takes the concept a step further by sending signals straight to
the brain. In the UK more than two million are visually impaired or
blind, with no hope of a cure until now.
Professor
Paulo Stanga, consultant ophthalmologist at the University of
Manchester, said: ‘There are a significant number of patients who would
benefit from this technology, for example people who have lost an eye on
the battlefield or through trauma.’
Dan
Pescod, of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said: ‘This is
a very exciting and potentially life-changing development, though the
research is at an early stage.’
Dr
Robert Greenberg, chairman of Second Sight, which developed Orion I,
said: ‘It is rare that technological development offers such stirring
possibilities. By bypassing the optic nerve and directly stimulating the
visual cortex, the Orion I has the potential to restore vision to
patients blinded due to virtually any reason, including glaucoma,
cancer, diabetic retinopathy, or trauma.’
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