Pioneering eye implant turns 'science fiction to fact'

A GROUND-BREAKING retinal implant has allowed three blind patients to see shapes and objects for the first time since they lost their sight to an inherited disease.

Before having the device fitted, each had a limited ability to perceive bright light but were completely unable to recognise shapes. Within days of undergoing surgery, all three could locate objects placed on a table, including a cup and saucer.

A British eye expert commenting on the German breakthrough said it had turned science fiction to fact. Patients in the UK are due to receive the implant for the first time in a follow-up trial starting next year.

Two men and one woman aged 40, 44 and 38 took part in the pilot study testing the device developed by Retina Implant AG, a medical technology company based in Reutlingen, Germany.

All had the inherited condition retinitis pigmentosa, which gradually destroys the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye eventually leading to blindness.

The implant is fitted beneath the retina and consists of a three millimetre-square array of 1,500 light sensors.

Each "photodiode" delivers a pulsed electrical signal to adjoining groups of nerve cells, sending a message to the brain.

A power supply unit is connected to the device by means of a cable passed through the skin.

Details of the trial were published yesterday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Lead researcher Professor Eberhart Zrenner, director of the Institute for Ophthalmologic Research at the University Eye Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany, said: "The results of this pilot study provide strong evidence that the visual functions of patients blinded by a hereditary retinal dystrophy can, in principle, be restored to a degree sufficient for use in daily life."