Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) A bionic eye implant partially restored vision in a 50-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with a progressive blinding disease when she was 13 years old.
A team led by Lucian V. Del Priore at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC) performed the first of its kind surgery in New York.

The only treatment aimed at restoring limited sight in people blinded by retinal disease is currently available as part of a multicentre clinical trial.

The implant, a component of the Argus II Retinal Stimulation System by Second Sight, is designed to stimulate retinal cells directly.

In a healthy eye, photo-receptor cells of the retina receive light and translate it into signals that are sent to the brain via the optic nerve. But in patients with a genetic blinding disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP), these light-processing cells gradually degenerate, leading to severe vision loss or total blindness.

“With this system, people who are functionally blind might begin to distinguish light from dark, recognise visual patterns… see food on a plate…,” says Del Priore, principal study investigator and professor in ophthalmology at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“In its current form, the device won’t restore full visual function — but if it dramatically reduces a patient’s disability, that is a major advance,” a CUMC release quoted Priore as saying.

The device is being tested exclusively in people with RP as part of a clinical trial offered at six sites across the US.