He took a trip to Germany to learn more about the implant. Now, he'll be leading the second phase of the study in the United Kingdom.

"To have patients who are completely blind able to see something again is a major breakthrough for ophthalmology, no matter what way you look at it," MacLaren told DOTmed News. "Even though the level of vision is very rudimentary, it still shows proof of principle - what could be achieved."


Researchers in the UK received ethics approval to implant up to 12 patients with the chip into those who are blind from RP, said MacLaren.

The surgical procedure to implant the device is technically difficult, "but within the realms of most retinal surgeons to achieve," said MacLaren. The surgical team includes a cochlear implant surgeon and an otorhinolaryngologist to help with the procedure.

The second phase of the study will strive to improve on the implant technology - researchers are looking to incorporate the power supply into the implant behind the ear, said MacLaren.

He hopes to implant the first UK patient with the device in early 2011.

Implications & next steps

The promising results of the study are more than just a glimpse of hope for the field of ophthalmology. MacLaren draws a comparison between blindness from loss of retinal cells and immobility as a result of spinal cord injuries.

An implanted electronic device into the lower spinal cord that enabled patients to walk, even if very slowly, "would be seen as a fundamental breakthrough because it would show that there is circuitry there that can be reawakened," he said. "And the same is true of this implant - it shows that there is circuitry within the eye that can be reawakened by an electronic implant and by the appropriate stimuli."

Although the technology is still in its developing stages, the results of the study and the expansion of the research into the UK, Italy and Hungary are reassuring for further advancements.

"The technology at the moment involves a very small implant with 1,500 electrodes just to stimulate the very central part of the retina," explained MacLaren. "In the future, it might be possible to make the implant bigger or improve the electrodes or improve resolution. We wouldn't have thought about this as being possible before this first study showed proof of principle that the blind retina can be reawakened, given the appropriate stimulus in the appropriate location."

In an e-mail interview with DOTmed News, Dr. Walter-G. Wrobel, CEO of Retina Implant AG, said the idea for the device came along in 1995. Its concept remains the same today and the timing for the transformation of the idea into reality is right.

More Industry Headlines