Artificial vision by direct optic nerve electrode (AV-DONE) implantation in a blind patient with retinitis pigmentosa.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of artificial vision by using a direct optic nerve electrode (AV-DONE) in a blind patient with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This device, comprising three wire electrodes (0.05 mm in diameter), was implanted into the optic disc of a patient with RP with no light perception vision and the device was left implanted. Six months later, visual sensations were elicited by electrical stimulation through each electrode and the thresholds for the phosphene perception elicited by pulses of 0.25-ms duration/phase and a pulse frequency of 320 Hz were 30, 5, and 70 microA for each electrode. The phosphenes, which ranged in size from that of a match head to an apple, were round, oval, or linear, primarily yellow, and focally distributed. The area of the phosphenes changed when the electrical stimulation was supplied from different electrodes. No complications arose during the follow-up period. Localized visual sensations were produced in a blind patient with advanced RP, suggesting that our system could lead to the development of a useful visual prosthesis system.

• Authors: Hirokazu Sakaguchi, Motohiro Kamei, Takashi Fujikado, Eiji Yonezawa, Motoki Ozawa, Carmen Cecilia-Gonzalez, Orlando Ustariz-Gonzalez, Hugo Quiroz-Mercado, Yasuo Tano
• Journal: Journal of artificial organs : the official journal of the Japanese Society for Artificial Organs (J Artif Organs) Vol. 12 Issue 3 Pg. 206-9 ( 2009) ISSN: 1619-0904 [Electronic] Japan
• PMID: 19894096 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adult
• Blindness (etiology, surgery)
• Electric Stimulation (instrumentation)
• Electrodes, Implanted
• Feasibility Studies
• Female
• Humans
• Optic Nerve
• Prosthesis Implantation
• Retinitis Pigmentosa (complications)
• Visual Perception