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Artificial Vision 2017

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

01.12. - 02.12.2017, Aachen

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Engineering and evaluation of a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis

Meeting Abstract

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  • Matthew Petoe - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • D. Nayagam - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia; Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
  • M. Shivdasani - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • J. Villalobos - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • O. Burns - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia
  • P. Thien - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • S. Epp - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia
  • C. McGowan - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia
  • R.A. Williams - Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Anatomical Pathology, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne,Melbourne, Australia
  • C.M. Salinas-LaRosa - Department of Anatomical Pathology, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne,Melbourne, Australia
  • C. Abbott - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia
  • A. Brandli - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia
  • J. Yeoh - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia
  • M. Korikkar - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia
  • S. Titchener - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia
  • P. Seligman - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • W. Kentler - School of Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • N. Barnes - Data61, Canberra, Australia; Research School of Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • J. Walker - Data61, Canberra, Australia
  • R. Dengate - Data61, Canberra, Australia
  • A. Scott - Data61, Canberra, Australia
  • C. Luu - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia
  • L. Ayton - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia
  • C. Williams - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • R. Shepherd - Bionics Institute, East Melbourne, Australia; Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Mebourne, Australia
  • P. Allen - Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Ophthalmology, University of Melbourne, Department of Surgery, Melbourne, Australia

Artificial Vision 2017. Aachen, 01.-02.12.2017. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2017. Doc17artvis26

doi: 10.3205/17artvis26, urn:nbn:de:0183-17artvis261

Published: November 30, 2017

© 2017 Petoe et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objective: To describe ongoing safety evaluation and preparation for human clinical trial of our 44-channel suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.

Materials and Methods: Hardware and software development of a portable vision processor has been concurrent with pre-clinical assessment of the 44-channel electrode array to facilitate safe psychophysical evaluation in humans. Incorporating learnings from our previous clinical trial, we have refined a patient-specific fitting and training regimen to determine brightness perception, sensitivity to spatiotemporal interactions between electrodes, and awareness of spatial cues.

Results: Pre-clinical investigations have informed candidate stimulation strategies for clinical evaluation in humans, which include monopolar and current-steering configurations. The portable vision processor incorporates flexible stimulation strategies and vision processing approaches. This complete system is suitable for take-home evaluation of our retinal prosthesis during the clinical trial. Discussion. Human clinical trial of the 44-channel suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis will now commence.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported by an ARC Special Research Initiative in Bionic Vision Science and Technology grant to Bionic Vision Australia; NHMRC grant 1082358 to CIA Dr Penny Allen. Funding for a clinical trial has been provided by Bionic Vision Technologies Pty Ltd. The Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Bionics Institute wish to acknowledge the support of the Victorian Government through ist Operational Infrastructure Support Program, and the Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Foundation.