News
| From the center
Argus II Retinal
Prosthesis System
The Emory Eye Center is recruiting patients in a
study for the new retinal prosthesis system for
those over 25 with severe retinitis pigmentosa
and minimal or no light perception. The device
provides electrical stimulation of the retina to
induce visual perception in blind patients, bypassing damaged photoreceptors.
Neuro-ophthalmology across the globe:
50 fellows gather from around the world
It was a significant and meaningful year for Emory Eye
Center neuro-ophthalmology faculty members. Nancy
Newman, director of the neuro-ophthalmology section,
was named as the 12th Hoyt Lecturer by the North
American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society (NANOS)
and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The lecture’s namesake, William F. Hoyt, MD, worldrenowned clinician, scholar, and educator in San Francisco,
promoted the importance of educating the next generation
of teachers of neuro-ophthalmology.
As Newman presented the named lecture in fall of 2013,
she described the projects and key publications of her 50
former Emory neuro-ophthalmology fellows and reviewed
advances in the field over the past 25 years, highlighting
common and uncommon disorders affecting the afferent
(receiving information from the outside) and efferent
(receive information from other neurons) visual systems.
The fellows are now practicing across the globe, yet
they remain a close-knit family of clinicians, scholars,
researchers, and educators. Their camaraderie was evident
at the NANOS meeting in Puerto Rico, where Emory neuroophthalmology faculty relished the opportunity to reminisce
and share knowledge.
The LeoDelle Jolley Professor of Ophthalmology,
Newman is also professor of neurology and instructor in
neurological surgery at Emory School of Medicine. She
joined Emory in 1989.
HOW IT WORKS
A miniature video camera housed in a patient’s
glasses captures a scene. The video is sent
to a small patient-worn, computerized video
processing unit (VPU), where it is processed and
transformed into instructions
that are sent back to the
glasses via a cable, then
transmitted wirelessly
to an antenna in
an implant. The
signals then pass to
an electrode array
which emits small
pulses of electricity.
These pulses bypass
damaged photoreceptors
and stimulate the retina’s
The portion of the Argus II device
remaining cells, which
that surrounds the patient’s eye
includes an electronics case, an
then transmit the visual
electrode array (inside the eye)
information along the
and the antenna.
optic nerve to the brain.
This process is intended to create the perception of
patterns of light that patients can learn to interpret
as visual patterns.
After acceptance for use of the prosthesis,
patients will be studied for five years to collect
information about the performance and safety of
the system. Retina surgeon Jiong Yan is the study’s
principal investigator at Emory.
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