Pixium Vision, a company based in Paris, France, has announced that its Iris II bionic vision system has been implanted into the first patient. The Iris II was cleared in Europe back in July of this year and the UK regulatory authority, Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), gave a green light for a clinical trial a month before that. The first implantation was performed at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London in September and the system activated shortly thereafter.
The Iris II vision prosthesis includes an epi-retinal implant that features 150 electrodes and is positioned next to the eye. A special pair of glasses that have a built-in camera capture the imagery in front of the patient, convert it into a series of electric signals, and send those signals to the implant that stimulates nerve cells of the inner retina. The system effectively replaces the work of damaged photoreceptor cells, letting people blind from retinitis pigmentosa restore some basic vision.
The camera within the glasses is quite unusual, having independent pixels that update naturally as the incoming light changes rather than on a regular clock cycle. The implant, on the other hand, is both explantable and upgradeable, giving patients hope that their vision will be improved even further.
Flashbacks: IRIS II Bionic Vision System Approved in Europe…; UK Regulatory Authority Grants Clinical Trial Approval for Pixium Vision’s Bionic Vision System…; Pixium Vision Implants Restore Sight in Rats with Retinal Degeneration, Humans Next…
Via: Pixium Vision…
