A tiny wireless chip implanted in the back of the eye and a pair of high‑tech glasses have partially restored vision to people with an advanced form of age‑related macular degeneration. In a clinical trial led by Stanford Medicine researchers and international collaborators, 27 out of 32 participants had regained the ability to read a year after receiving the device.
With digital enhancements enabled by the device, such as zoom and higher contrast, some participants could read with acuity equivalent to 20/42 vision.
The results of the trial were published Oct. 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The device, called PRIMA, developed at Stanford Medicine, is the first eye prosthesis to restore functional sight to patients with incurable vision loss, giving them the ability to perceive shapes and patterns — also known as form vision.
“All previous attempts to provide vision with prosthetic devices resulted in basically light sensitivity, not really form vision,” said Daniel Palanker, PhD, a professor of ophthalmology and a co‑senior author of the paper. “We are the first to provide form vision.”
PRIMA is the culmination of decades of development, prototypes, animal trials and a small first‑in‑human trial.
