The Food and Drug Administration approved a bionic eye device last week to be distributed in the United States. The device, named Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, or Argus II for short, will help those with retinal damage regain some measure of sight.
Gianluca Lazzi, Utah Science Technology & Research (USTAR) initiative professor and department chair of electrical engineering, has been on the team to develop the eye since its beginning in 1999. The Department of Energy assembled a team of researchers from three universities and five national labs to develop this technology and prepare it for use. A company called Second Sight is now in charge of getting the product, which has been available in Europe since 2011, to the public.
Mark Humayun of the University of Southern California was also instrumental in the research and development of the Argus II. He said it has taken about 50 engineers, researchers, professors and 200 students to collaborate and get to this point.
Vision is possible when light passes through the eye and hits the retina, where photoreceptors translate the light to electrical pulses. With retinal degenerative diseases like retinitis pigmentosa, these photoreceptors don’t work. The bionic eye provides electrical pulses to the neural cells that are still there and working but not receiving input, Lazzi said.
“It’s like a computer in the eye,” he said.
Because the device is partly outside the eye and partly internal, surgery is required to implant the eye. Those with the bionic eye wear glasses with a camera and a unit that radiates power to the eye. The implant receives detail from the camera, and the patient is able to see a blurry, black and white image.
Even though Humayun recognizes this as a significant step, he said there is more to do, such as adding a zoom or perception of color.
Lazzi hopes to continue technological advancements and work toward creating a total implant with no outside component, which would require smaller technology. He recently received a grant to study what happens at the neural level so the device can use higher resolution and be more effective.
The information from this bionic eye might expand to other brain implants, such as one for the hippocampus, our center for memory, Lazzi said.
Patients with these retinal degenerative diseases had sight in the past but lost it, so they can use the dotted images they see with their new eye to construct a new visual reality.
“The brain is extremely adaptive,” Lazzi said. “It learns to use whatever it has been given.”
The success is person-dependent, as people have differing levels of retinal damage, and their brain may adapt in a unique way. Humayun has already implanted the device and seen firsthand several success stories.
“I have a patient who is a grandmother,” he said. “She can now play with her grandson and even play basketball. We take this for granted, but it’s amazing that these people can see again.”
So far, 50 people have had the implant surgery, and it is now available in the United States as a humanitarian aid. It is estimated to have helped about 2,000 people a year. Humayun hopes that number will rise as the technology develops. Argus II is still being priced, but it costs about $100,000 in countries like Germany.
“It’s justified because it provides sight for 10 years,” Humayun said. “So you’re paying $10,000 a year for sight.”
The implant is on the retina itself, so some might find risk in the surgery, but approval in the United States and Europe proves the benefits far outweigh the risks, Humayun said.