Retinal prostheses in degenerative retinal diseases

Tai-Chi Lin; Hua-Ming Chang; Chih-Chien Hsu; Kuo-Hsuan Hung; Yan-Ting Chen; Szu-Yu Chen; Shih-Jen Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcma.2015.05.010

Retinal prostheses in degenerative retinal diseases

J Chin Med Assoc. 2015 Sep;78(9):501-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jcma.2015.05.010. Epub 2015 Jun 30.

Authors

Tai-Chi Lin¹, Hua-Ming Chang², Chih-Chien Hsu¹, Kuo-Hsuan Hung³, Yan-Ting Chen⁴, Szu-Yu Chen⁵, Shih-Jen Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Optics and Photonics, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC; Bade Veterans Home, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Ophthalmology, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Ophthalmology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Optometry, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
⁵ Department of Optics and Photonics, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC.
⁶ Department of Ophthalmology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: sjchen@vghtpe.gov.tw.

PMID: 26142056
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcma.2015.05.010

Abstract

Degenerative retinal diseases may lead to significant loss of vision. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which eventually affect the photoreceptors, are the two most common retinal degenerative diseases. Once the photoreceptorcells are lost, there are no known effective therapies for AMD or RP. The concept of retinal prosthesis is to elicit neural activity in the remaining retinal neurons by detecting light and converting it into electrical stimuli using artificial devices. Subretinal, epiretinal, and other retinal prostheses implants are currently designed to restore functional vision in retinal degenerative diseases. In this review, we have summarized different types of retinal prostheses, implant locations, and visual outcomes. Our discussions will further elucidate the results from clinical trials, and the challenges that will need to be overcome to more efficaciously assist patients with AMD and RP in the future.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration; epiretinal implants; retinal prosthesis; retinitis pigmentosa; subretinal implants.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Macular Degeneration / surgery*
Retinitis Pigmentosa / surgery*
Visual Prosthesis*