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Title: Experts Hail 'Remarkable' Success of Electronic Implant in Restoring
Sight

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/20/1...

An electronic eye implant has restored reading ability to patients blinded by
geographic atrophy, a form of dry age-related macular degeneration. Results
published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that 84% of
trial participants regained the ability to read letters, numbers, and words
after receiving the Prima device. The microchip measures two millimetres by
two millimetres and is implanted beneath the center of the retina. Patients
wear augmented reality glasses containing a camera that projects images onto
the chip. The device converts light into electrical pulses transmitted to the
brain. Frank Holz, the study's lead author and chair of ophthalmology at the
University Hospital of Bonn, called the implant "a paradigm shift in treating
late-stage age-related macular degeneration." Mahi Muqit, a consultant at
Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, said the trial enabled "meaningful central
vision restoration, which has never been done before." The procedure takes
less than two hours and requires intensive rehabilitation. Science
Corporation, which manufactures the device, has applied for clinical
authorization in the United States and Europe.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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