New implant from Second Sight

Neuroimplant helped blind patients partially restore their vision

Lina Medvedeva, XX2 century

Seven years ago, Jason Esterhuizen had an accident that completely destroyed his eyes. Nevertheless, he partially restored visual perception thanks to an experimental device implanted in his brain by scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles).

"Now I can do things I couldn't do before," says thirty–year-old Esterhazen, who moved from South Africa to participate in clinical trials. – I can sort laundry after washing, find my way in lighted corridors without using a cane, and crossing the street is safer for me now. It makes life a lot easier."

The device is designed for people who were previously sighted, but lost their sight due to injuries or diseases. Although it does not provide normal vision, it improves navigation, restoring the ability to recognize movement and distinguish dark from light.

Jason Esterhazen is looking for items, his wife Sumari is next to him. The video camera on the glasses transmits signals to the device in his brain, allowing him to distinguish light from dark. Photo: UCLA Health.

"This is the first time a patient can use an implanted device without having to connect to an external device," says Dr. Nader Pouratian, a neurosurgeon and lead scientist of the five–year study. – The device helps to recognize, for example, where the doorway is located, where the sidewalk or pedestrian crossing begins and ends. These are extremely important things, they help to improve the quality of people's lives."

The device was given the status of a "breakthrough" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The wireless system converts images obtained using a miniature video camera mounted on dark glasses into a series of electrical pulses. The pulses stimulate a block of 60 electrodes implanted in the visual cortex of the brain that perceives light patterns and interprets them as visual symbols.

"I see little white dots on a black background, as if I'm looking at the stars at night," says Esterhazen, the second patient to receive a device called Orion. – When a person approaches me, I see three small dots. As we approach, the luminous dots become more and more."

Along with the glasses, the system also includes a belt with a button that the patient can press to magnify dark objects in the sun, as well as to visualize light objects in the dark, for example, the headlights of an oncoming car at night.

Six people received the implant, they expressed joy that they could enjoy the fireworks and blow out the candles on the birthday cake.

"Every time I turn it on, it's amazing," says Esterhazen. – After I didn't see anything at all, suddenly a flicker of light breaks into the darkness, and I realize that they mean something. It's just amazing to have functional vision again."

Currently, the implant stimulates the left hemisphere of the patient's brain. This means that he perceives visual signals only from the right side of the field of view. In the future, the goal is to introduce implants in both hemispheres of the brain to restore the full field of vision.

"This device is able to fully restore useful vision to patients who have lost it due to glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cancer and injuries," says Puratian. He and his colleagues hope that the data obtained from the study participants will help improve the device so that it can be useful to people born blind or with poor eyesight.

Almost 39 million people worldwide are officially considered blind. Since Orion, developed and marketed by Second Sight Medical Products, directly stimulates the visual cortex, it can help people like Esterhazen who have suffered from damage to the retina and optic nerve.

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