Here are five highlights:
1. The procedure restored limited sight to a patient who had been blind for almost two decades.
2. Only two centers in the western United States have implanted the device, which uses a small camera and microchip to stimulate the patient’s optic nerve.
3. The patient’s condition is retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that causes cells in the retina to slowly die. For more RP patients, their vision gradually closes on the sides. Many lose night vision first and eventually begin to lose their peripheral vision, but all vision can be lost as well.
3. The implant was inserted into the patient by Naresh Mandava, MD, chair of ophthalmology and director of the UCHealth Eye Center.
4. The device is a 10×6 array of electrodes, which accounts for 60 pixels of vision. Scott Oliver, MD, chief of vitreoretinal surgery and diseases for UCHealth Eye Center said the device restores the basics of vision, meaning the patient should be able to see outlines of objects and be able to perceive light and dark.
5. The UCHealth Eye Center is the largest and most advanced eye center in the Rocky Mountain region, and is a national leader of vision-related research.
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