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Artificial Vision 2019

The International Symposium on Visual Prosthetics

13.12. - 14.12.2019, Aachen

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Feasibility of 3rd generation suprachoroidal-transretinal stimulation (STS) prosthesis in healthy dogs

Meeting Abstract

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  • Takeshi Morimoto - Dept. of Advanced Visual Neuroscience, Osaka University/J
  • T. Miyoshi - Dept. of Integrative physiology, Osaka University/J
  • T. Saitoh - Nidek Co., Gamagori/J
  • K. Ito - Nidek Co., Gamagori/J
  • M. Ozawa - Nidek Co., Gamagori/J
  • K. Nishida - Dept. of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University/J
  • T. Fujikado - Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University/J

Artificial Vision 2019. Aachen, 13.-14.12.2019. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2019. Doc19artvis22

doi: 10.3205/19artvis22, urn:nbn:de:0183-19artvis228

Published: December 10, 2019

© 2019 Morimoto 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

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Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of implanting 3rd generation suprachoroidal–transretinal stimulation (STS) prosthesis in healthy dogs.

Methods: Six healthy dogs were used in this study. The STS prosthesis consisted of 49 electrodes. The array was implanted into a scleral pocket of each of four healthy beagle dogs under systemic anesthesia. Color fundus photography and fluorescein angiography (FA) were performed pre and postoperatively until 3-6 months. The animals were euthanatized after the experimental period and the retinas were evaluated histologically.

Results: All the prostheses were successfully implanted without complications, and no serious complications occurred during the experimental period. The fixation of the implant was stable throughout the experimental period. Fundus photographs and FAs revealed no serious damage in the retina and choroid around the array. Histologic evaluations showed good preservation of the retina over the electrode array.

Conclusions: Implantation of 3rd STS retinal prosthesis into a scleral pocket of dogs is surgically feasible and can be performed without significant damage to the retina or the dog. The implanted STS prosthesis was biocompatible and remained stable for the experimental period.