Airaghi Leccardi, Marta Jole Ildelfonsa

Chenais, Naïg

Ferlauto, Laura

Ghezzi, Diego

Sivula, Kevin

Wolfensberger, Thomas J.

Infoscience - École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Design and validation of a foldable and photovoltaic wide-field retinal prosthesis Laura Ferlauto1, Marta J. I. Airaghi Leccardi1, Naïg A. L. Chenais1, Thomas J. Wolfensberger2, Kevin Sivula3 and Diego Ghezzi1  1 Medtronic Chair in Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics, Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland 2 Hôpital Ophtalmique Jules Gonin, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland 3 Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronic Nanomaterials, Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, School of Basic Science, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland  In the last two decades, several retinal prostheses have been developed to fight blindness in people affected by outer retinal layer dystrophies. To date, a few hundred blind patients worldwide have received retinal implants. In this field, one of the most important open questions concerns how to increase both visual acuity and visual field with the same device.  Here we present a novel foldable and photovoltaic wide-field retinal prosthesis that advances the current state of the art in several aspects. The active array covers a retinal surface of 13 mm in diameter, affording restoration of the visual field up to ~44 degrees. Moreover, it is foldable to limit the scleral incision and it self-opens once released into the eye. It has a hemispherical shape to match the curvature of the eye, thus remaining in tight contact with the retina and minimizing the distance between the electrodes and the retinal cells over its entire surface. Lastly, it operates according to a photovoltaic principle via 2345 stimulating pixels. In its central area of 5 mm it embeds 1067 pixels, twice than the estimated value required for being useful in daily activities. Laboratory tests show that the prosthesis is not cytotoxic, while accelerated ageing shows a lifetime of at least 2 years. These advances provide a realistic solution towards the improvement of both visual acuity and visual field in blind patients.    

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

http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/232646/files/Abstract_Retina.pdf

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

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Infoscience - École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne