'Bionic eye' tops Top 10 for 2014
From: Medical Design - 10/22/2013
By: Joe Jancsurak

A "bionic eye" and an implantable "defibrillator for epileptics" are #1 and
#3 on the Cleveland Clinic's Top 10 Innovations for 2014 announced at last
week's 2013 Medical Innovation Summit.

The bionic eye, otherwise known as a retinal prosthesis, received FDA
approval this year and will be used to treat patients with vision loss from
Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a group of inherited diseases that damage the rods
and cones of the retina. In healthy eyes, these rods and cones that function
as specialized cells to convert light into electromechanical impulses that
are sent via the optic nerve into the brain, where they are decoded into
images.

The retinal system combines a surgically implanted 60-electrode retinal
prosthesis that receives signals from a pair of external video camera-enabled
glasses with a video processing unit that can be worn at the waist or
carried. The video unit transforms images from the miniature camera into
electronic data that is wirelessly transmitted to the retinal prosthesis,
which contains an antenna and electrodes that replace the degenerated cells
in the retina. The data are transformed into electrical impulses that
stimulate the retina’s remaining inner neurons, resulting in the
corresponding perceptions of light and images in the brain. People then learn
to interpret these patterns of light and thereby regain some visual function.

Coming in at #3 on the Top 10 list is an implanted neurological device that
can reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures. This device gained the
unanimous backing of an FDA neurological device advisory panel in 2013.

Surgically implanted under the skin, the device records electrocorticographic
(ECog) patterns through leads containing electrodes that are placed at the
patient’s seizure focus within the brain or else they rest on the brain
surface where seizures are known to start. When detection thresholds are met,
the device delivers short electrical pulses to interrupt the triggers before
any seizure symptoms can occur.

Read the entire article at:
http://medicaldesign.com/news/bionic-eye-tops-top-10-2014

Link:
Top 10 Innovations for 2014
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/innovations/summit/topten/2014.html