Subretinal implant for retinitis pigmentosa

According to Dr. Eberhart Zrenner, MD, of the University of Tübingen in Germany, electronic subretinal implants provide hope for the restoration of some useful, functional vision in patients blinded by retinitis pigmentosa.

Dr. Zrenner discussed the 12-month visual and safety outcomes of a multi-center study of 1500-pixel subretinal implants at the 14th EURETINA Congress. These generate an 11x11 degree visual field to patients by stimulating the overlying bipolar cells.

The patients, whose average age was 53 years, had, on average, lost the ability to read 17 years ago. Of interest, detection, localization and recognition of shapes and objects in an ADL task was significantly better with implant power switched on than off during the first three months (p<0.05). Four patients (14%) could read letters 4-8 cm in size. Thirteen patients (45%) reported useful visual experiences, including recognition of shapes or details in daily life and 8 patients (28%) could localize objects in daily life.