New hopes for the visually impaired
This artificial vision system helps
visually-impaired people recognize characters. A man uses the system to
recognize the letter N. (Courtesy of Nidek)
TOKYO -- Today's digital world has raised risks of eye disease caused by heavy strains due to constant PC and smartphone use.
Currently, about 300,000 people in Japan are estimated to have lost their eyesight. To help restore their vision, even partially, university researchers and businesses are using the newest technology available to treat vision-impaired patients, something once considered impossible.
In January this year, a woman in her 60s living in Osaka Prefecture underwent eye surgery at the Osaka University Hospital. She had an artificial retina made from electrodes implanted to restore her sight. This procedure is the latest clinical research. The woman lost most of her vision to a rare disease called retinal pigmentary degeneration eight years ago.
"I can now see white flowers in the garden and see a rough figure of my husband," she said. Advances in medical technology have helped her see again, even if only to a small degree.
Reactivating cells
Osaka University has been working on ways to tackle this disease. Under its method, a blind person wears a pair of glasses equipped with small charge coupled devices, which sends image data shot by the CCD to an image processing device around the neck. Then, the image data is converted and signals are transmitted to the intact retina cells via a 6 millimeter-square electrode chip implanted in the sclera, the outer part of the retina known commonly as the white of the eye.
Normally, image data captured by the crystalline lenses in our eyes is first sent to the retina via nerves before being passed onto the brain. However, decoding of image data fails when many retina cells are lost. To solve this problem, Osaka University researchers have come up with ways to generate different image data signals and transmit them to the remaining retina cells. As a result, these cells are reactivated and send image data to the brain.
The university hospital has already performed three such operations and plans to obtain official approval as a medical device in a few years. "This method allows patients to see figures and movements only vaguely at the moment. We hope to create artificial retina technology that can help them live independently in the future," said Takashi Fujikado, an ophthalmology professor of Osaka University who is in charge of the research project.
To achieve greater clarity of vision, a research team led by Jun Ota, professor of photonic device science at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, has been trying to increase the accuracy of electrode chips. Simply increasing the number of electrodes makes chips bigger. This would require more wires to link chips and complicate implant surgery.
Working together
Thus, professor Ota and his fellow scientists are working to develop new, micro-size electrodes. Working with Nidek, an Aichi Prefecture-based developer and manufacturer of ophthalmic devices, they have created an ultrafine processing technology for making electrodes small enough to fit a greater number onto a single chip.
This makes it possible to embed minuscule electrodes in a single electrode array. Currently, more than 1,000 electrodes can be embedded in a chip of several sq.-millimeters, 20 times more than Osaka University's method, according to the research team. The use of this new technology and the artificial retina being developed by Osaka University will make it possible to implant these tiny chips to electrically stimulate the retina.
Ota and his research team will study whether these chips will corrode or deteriorate inside the body, aiming to put the technology to use as soon as possible. "Visual cells process more than 100 million pixels. We are not sure if we can replicate the colors [seen by impaired eyes] fully, but this may greatly improve the quality of life for visually impaired people so that they could read books or go out," said Ota. (Nikkei)
Currently, about 300,000 people in Japan are estimated to have lost their eyesight. To help restore their vision, even partially, university researchers and businesses are using the newest technology available to treat vision-impaired patients, something once considered impossible.
In January this year, a woman in her 60s living in Osaka Prefecture underwent eye surgery at the Osaka University Hospital. She had an artificial retina made from electrodes implanted to restore her sight. This procedure is the latest clinical research. The woman lost most of her vision to a rare disease called retinal pigmentary degeneration eight years ago.
"I can now see white flowers in the garden and see a rough figure of my husband," she said. Advances in medical technology have helped her see again, even if only to a small degree.
Reactivating cells
Osaka University has been working on ways to tackle this disease. Under its method, a blind person wears a pair of glasses equipped with small charge coupled devices, which sends image data shot by the CCD to an image processing device around the neck. Then, the image data is converted and signals are transmitted to the intact retina cells via a 6 millimeter-square electrode chip implanted in the sclera, the outer part of the retina known commonly as the white of the eye.
Normally, image data captured by the crystalline lenses in our eyes is first sent to the retina via nerves before being passed onto the brain. However, decoding of image data fails when many retina cells are lost. To solve this problem, Osaka University researchers have come up with ways to generate different image data signals and transmit them to the remaining retina cells. As a result, these cells are reactivated and send image data to the brain.
The university hospital has already performed three such operations and plans to obtain official approval as a medical device in a few years. "This method allows patients to see figures and movements only vaguely at the moment. We hope to create artificial retina technology that can help them live independently in the future," said Takashi Fujikado, an ophthalmology professor of Osaka University who is in charge of the research project.
To achieve greater clarity of vision, a research team led by Jun Ota, professor of photonic device science at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, has been trying to increase the accuracy of electrode chips. Simply increasing the number of electrodes makes chips bigger. This would require more wires to link chips and complicate implant surgery.
Working together
Thus, professor Ota and his fellow scientists are working to develop new, micro-size electrodes. Working with Nidek, an Aichi Prefecture-based developer and manufacturer of ophthalmic devices, they have created an ultrafine processing technology for making electrodes small enough to fit a greater number onto a single chip.
This makes it possible to embed minuscule electrodes in a single electrode array. Currently, more than 1,000 electrodes can be embedded in a chip of several sq.-millimeters, 20 times more than Osaka University's method, according to the research team. The use of this new technology and the artificial retina being developed by Osaka University will make it possible to implant these tiny chips to electrically stimulate the retina.
Ota and his research team will study whether these chips will corrode or deteriorate inside the body, aiming to put the technology to use as soon as possible. "Visual cells process more than 100 million pixels. We are not sure if we can replicate the colors [seen by impaired eyes] fully, but this may greatly improve the quality of life for visually impaired people so that they could read books or go out," said Ota. (Nikkei)
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