How Video Goggles and a Tiny Implant Could Cure Blindness
From: Wirelesss Design Magazine - 08/28/2017

Scientists and engineers still are a long way from creating a visual
prosthesis that works as well as a real human eye, let alone a superhuman
one. Nevertheless, two Stanford research teams are making steady progress in
what was once the realm of science fiction. One of their promising new
devices, a bionic vision system based on photovoltaic implants, is awaiting
approval for human clinical trials in Europe. A second system, based on in
vitro studies of the retina, could be ready for animal testing within four or
five years. Both inventions have the same goal: to give back some measure of
sight to people who have progressive diseases of the retina — especially
retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.

A new prosthetic device, called PRIMA, is being commercialized in partnership
with Pixium Vision of France. Like the ARGUS II, it features a tiny video
camera mounted atop futuristic-looking augmented reality goggles, connected
to a video processor about the size of a cell phone. Yet it doesn't require
the implantation of a bulky electronics case and antenna, or a cable coming
out of the eye, like the German system. Instead it relies on multiple arrays
of photodiodes, each about a millimeter in diameter and containing hundreds
of pixels, which work like the solar panels on a rooftop. Surgeons can lay
down these tiny chips, like tiles, replacing the missing light-sensitive rods
and cones in the central retina.

When PRIMA's camera captures an image of, say, a flower, the video processor
transmits that picture to a microdisplay mounted inside the goggles. Powerful
pulses of near-infrared light illuminate this display and are projected from
the goggles into the eye, like the invisible rays of a TV remote control. The
implanted photodiodes pick up these signals and convert them into tiny pulses
of electrical current, which stimulate the bipolar cells directly above them.
The signals propagate to the ganglion cells and then to the brain, which
perceives them as patterns of light: a flower!

Read the entire article at:
https://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/news/2017/08/how-video-goggles-and-tiny-implant-could-cure-blindness
http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2017summer/smart-goggles-tiny-implant-could-cure-blindness.html

Links:
Pixium Vision
http://www.pixium-vision.com/en

PRIMA Bionic Vision Restoration System
http://www.pixium-vision.com/en/technology-1/prima-vision-restoration-system

Related:
Bionic Vision System Earns CE Market Approval
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/07/bionic-vision-system-earns-ce-market-approval

Retinal Implant Could Restore Functional Sight
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/04/retinal-implant-could-restore-functional-sight

Bionic Vision Gets Boost in Europe
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/07/bionic-vision-gets-boost-europe

New Nano-Implant Could One Day Help Restore Sight
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2017/03/new-nano-implant-could-one-day-help-restore-sight