Blind patients show improvement

Patients blinded by late-stage retinitis pigmentosa who have an investigational retinal prosthesis implanted demonstrate improved performance in a spatial-motor task, according to one task.

Fort Lauderdale, FL-Patients blinded by late-stage retinitis pigmentosa who have an investigational retinal prosthesis (Argus II, Second Sight Medical Products Inc.) implanted demonstrate improved performance in a spatial-motor task, said Ashish K. Ahuja, PhD, at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).

The prosthesis is the second generation of retinal implant technology from the manufacturer and features an implanted epiretinal multielectrode array. The trial is a 3-year study in which the epiretinal multielectrode array was implanted in 30 subjects with bare light perception vision, in the eye with the poorer vision.