A New Revolutionary Eye Implant Restores Reading Ability in Blind Patients

Legally blind patients are now able to read, recognise faces and perform daily tasks again. The innovative microchip, known as the Prima System, was surgically implanted in patients at a London hospital as part of an international trial involving 38 participants across five European countries. In a remarkable medical breakthrough, those with sight loss recovered reading vision with the help of an electronic eye implant paired with augmented-reality glasses, a trial has reported. The research, conducted by the University College London and Moorfields Eye Hospital clinical researcher, showed nearly 85 per cent of participants were able to read numbers, alphabets and even words using prosthetic vision. The findings of the trial, published in The New

England Journal of Medicine, had enrolled those who had previously lost sight due to the untreatable progressive eye condition - geographic atrophy with dry age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. Scientists said those treated with the device could also read, on average, five lines of a vision chart; some participants could not even see the chart before their surgery. The trial, which involved at least 38 patients in 17 hospital sites across five countries – tested a pioneering device known as PRIMA - with Moorfields Eye Hospital being the sole UK site. All patients had lost complete sight in their eyes before receiving the implant.

What is Dry AMD?

Dry AMD is a slow deterioration of the cells of the macula, often over many years, as the retinal cells die off and are not renewed. The term ‘dry’ does not mean the person has dry eyes, just that the condition is not wet AMD. Doctors say for most people with dry AMD, they can experience a slight loss of central vision. Through a process known as geographic atrophy, it can progress to full sight loss in the eye, as the cells die and the central macula melts away. There is currently no treatment for GA, which affects 5 million people globally. All participants in this trial had lost the central sight of the eye being tested, leaving only limited peripheral vision.

Implant first ever device to helps blind read

According to experts, this revolutionary new implant is the first ever device that has enabled people to read letters, numbers and words through an eye that had lost its sight. “In the history of artificial vision, this represents a new era. Blind patients are actually able to have meaningful central vision restoration, which has never been done before,” said Mahi Muqit, associate professor at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and senior vitreoretinal consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital. “Getting back the ability to read is a major improvement in their quality of life, lifts their mood and helps to restore their confidence and independence. Any trained vitreoretinal surgeon can safely perform the PRIMA chip operation in under two hours - that is key for allowing all blind patients to have access to this new medical therapy for GA in dry AMD,” he added.

How was the procedure conducted?

According to scientists, the procedure involves a vitrectomy - where the eye’s vitreous jelly is removed from between the lens and the retina, and an ultra-thin microchip - shaped like a SIM card with 2mm x 2mm measurements, is inserted. This is done so under the centre of a patient’s retina - by creating a trapdoor into which the chip is posted. The patient uses augmented-reality glasses – which have a video camera connected to a small computer, with a zoom feature, attached to their waistband. A month after the implant - once the eye settles - the new chip is activated. The video camera in the glasses projects the visual scene as an infra-red beam directly across the chip to activate the device. Artificial intelligence algorithms through the pocket computer process this information, which then gets converted into an electrical signal – passing through the retinal and optical nerve cells into the brain, where it is interpreted as vision. Scientists say the patient uses their glasses to focus and scan across the main object in the projected image from the video camera, using the zoom feature to enlarge the text.