IoO Seminar Series with Daniel Palanker

Daniel Palanker

Professor Ophthalmology at Stanford University, CA

Prosthetic vision in patients with atrophic AMD  

Department of Ophthalmology and Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory
Stanford University, CA

Photovoltaic arrays implanted instead of the lost photoreceptors in patients blinded by atrophic age-related macular degeneration provide monochromatic form vision perceived simultaneously with the remaining peripheral natural vision. Clinical trials with 43 patients across 17 centers in 5 European countries demonstrated letter acuity matching their 100m pixel size. Electronic zoom enables patients to read and write smaller fonts, improving visual acuity, on average, by 23 ETDRS letters (nearly 5 lines), compared to baseline. The next-generation implant with 20m pixels has been tested in rodents, and if successful in the next clinical trial, it may increase acuity up to 20/80 even without zoom.