New Hope for Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration
There’s a fresh approach to tackle a prevalent eye condition that impacts many.
Dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) gradually harms the macula, which plays a crucial role in our central vision.
Geographic atrophy, a serious and irreversible type of AMD, affects around 1 million individuals in the U.S.
For a long time, treatments focused on slowing down the disease’s progression, but have not succeeded in restoring lost vision.
Recently, multiple patients in a single facility experienced an innovative solution through clinical trials. They managed to regain their reading abilities after receiving a specialized electronic intraocular implant along with augmented reality glasses.
Mahi Mukit, an associate professor at University College London, who led the UK segment of the trial, remarked, “This represents a new era in the history of artificial vision.” He added that visually impaired individuals can finally experience meaningful restoration of central vision, which has never been achieved before.
The PRIMA system includes a wireless, ultra-thin microchip equipped with 378 solar cells. These cells aim to replace the functions lost from damaged rod and cone cells due to AMD.
A surgeon implants this chip under the macula in a process that lasts less than two hours. After about a month, the eye stabilizes and the chip becomes operational.
Following this, patients receive a handheld computer and augmented reality glasses containing a compact camera and infrared projector. The camera captures the surrounding visuals, which are sent to the pocket computer, transforming them into an infrared pattern.
This pattern is projected onto the chip, converted into electrical impulses that activate the remaining healthy retinal neurons. Thus, the brain can interpret these impulses as visual information.
Participants spend several months training to recognize these signals, effectively re-learning how to read.
The European trial included 38 patients, each having experienced central vision loss in at least one eye while retaining minimal peripheral vision. Remarkably, 84% of these individuals could read letters, numbers, words, and even five lines on the eye chart after using PRIMA.
Sheila Irvine, a participant at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, shared her experience: “Before having the implant, I saw two black disks in my eye, and everything around seemed distorted.” She noted that the surgery was pain-free, but she was conscious of what was happening. “Seeing through the eyes was a new way, and I was really excited when I started looking at the letters.”
Once a passionate reader, Irvine can now decipher small print and tackle crosswords again.
Another patient from France utilized his improved vision to navigate the Paris metro.
The findings from the trial were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, bringing renewed hope to those suffering from AMD.
“These are elderly individuals who had lost their ability to read, write, or recognize faces. They previously couldn’t even see an eye chart,” Mukit explained. “Now, they’ve transitioned from darkness back to being able to see. Research has shown that reading is among the activities that people with progressive vision loss miss the most.”
