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Design and validation of a foldable and photovoltaic wide-field epiretinal prosthesis

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Ferlauto

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Marta Jole Ildelfonsa Airaghi Leccardi

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Naïg Aurelia Ludmilla Chenais

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Samuel Charles Antoine Gilliéron

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Paola Vagni

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Michele Bevilacqua

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Thomas J. Wolfensberger

    (Fondation Asile des Aveugles)

  • Kevin Sivula

    (School of Basic Science, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Diego Ghezzi

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

Abstract

Retinal prostheses have been developed to fight blindness in people affected by outer retinal layer dystrophies. To date, few hundred patients have received a retinal implant. Inspired by intraocular lenses, we have designed a foldable and photovoltaic wide-field epiretinal prosthesis (named POLYRETINA) capable of stimulating wireless retinal ganglion cells. Here we show that within a visual angle of 46.3 degrees, POLYRETINA embeds 2215 stimulating pixels, of which 967 are in the central area of 5 mm, it is foldable to allow implantation through a small scleral incision, and it has a hemispherical shape to match the curvature of the eye. We demonstrate that it is not cytotoxic and respects optical and thermal safety standards; accelerated ageing shows a lifetime of at least 2 years. POLYRETINA represents significant progress towards the improvement of both visual acuity and visual field with the same device, a current challenging issue in the field.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Ferlauto & Marta Jole Ildelfonsa Airaghi Leccardi & Naïg Aurelia Ludmilla Chenais & Samuel Charles Antoine Gilliéron & Paola Vagni & Michele Bevilacqua & Thomas J. Wolfensberger & Kevin Sivula &, 2018. "Design and validation of a foldable and photovoltaic wide-field epiretinal prosthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03386-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03386-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Gengxi Lu & Chen Gong & Yizhe Sun & Xuejun Qian & Deepthi S. Rajendran Nair & Runze Li & Yushun Zeng & Jie Ji & Junhang Zhang & Haochen Kang & Laiming Jiang & Jiawen Chen & Chi-Feng Chang & Biju B. Th, 2024. "Noninvasive imaging-guided ultrasonic neurostimulation with arbitrary 2D patterns and its application for high-quality vision restoration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Franklin Leong & Babak Rahmani & Demetri Psaltis & Christophe Moser & Diego Ghezzi, 2024. "An actor-model framework for visual sensory encoding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

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