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【drug-news】美发明人造视网膜技术 可助盲人恢复
作者：梁杉 来源：中国日报网
“阿格斯II型”让失明20年的塞尔比重见光明
据美国媒体2月14日报道，该国一家公司日前宣布，他们利用先进的成套人造视网膜技术，成功帮助盲人恢复了部分视力。
去年，这家名为“第二视觉”的公司把这种叫做“阿格斯II型”的人造装置植入68岁英国退休工程师埃里克·塞尔比的右眼。塞尔比失明近20年，一直依靠导盲犬外出。手术后，他可以“看到”人行道等易辨识的物体。
据介绍，这套装置还包括安装在眼镜上的微型摄像机、无线发射器和一台单独的微型无线计算机。首先，眼镜上的摄像机捕捉到外部景象，然后这些经过计算机处理的图像再经由无线发射器传送到植在患者眼球表面的人造视网膜上，并转换为电脉冲信号；接着，人造视网膜上的电极会刺激视网膜的视觉神经，继续将信号沿视神经传送到大脑。
发明者称，这些脉冲信号可以“欺骗”大脑，让大脑以为患者的眼睛仍然在正常工作。最终，患者可以和常人一样“看到”外部世界，并区分光明和黑暗，从而恢复视力。不过，安装“阿格斯II型”的盲人需要经过培训才能更好地识别眼前2xh物体，因为他们看到的只是物体的大致轮廓。譬如，如果看到三个点，则可能意味着他们眼前的东西是三角形。即便如此，塞尔比还是对恢复部分视力感到很开心，他说：“虽然只是一些光束，还需要用脑子分辨它们是什么。但是能看到东西已经让我非常惊奇和高兴了。”
目前，“阿格斯II型”的市场定价为10万美元，颇为昂贵，不过已有包括荷兰在内的多个欧洲国家正在考虑是否要引进并推广该产品。如果获得相关部门批准，荷兰将是第一个销售这种人造视网膜的国家。然而医生表示，此种技术只适用于因色素性视网膜炎致盲的病人，因为他们并非先天的盲人，之前能看见东西，还残存有健康的视网膜细胞和视神经。
“阿格斯II型”让失明20年的塞尔比重见光明
英文报道链接如下:
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/story/2011/02/Artificial-retina-helps-some-blind-people/43702946/1
原文:
Artificial Retina Helps Some Blind People
Feb 14, 2011
For two decades, Eric Selby had been completely blind and dependent on a guide dog to get around. But after having an artificial retina put into his right eye, he can detect ordinary things like the curb and pavement when he's walking outside.
"It's basically flashes of light that you have to translate in your brain, but it's amazing I can see anything at all," said Selby, a retired engineer in Coventry, central England.
More than a year ago, the 68-year-old had an artificial implant called the Argus II, made by U.S.-based company Second Sight, surgically inserted into his right eye. Dutch regulators are expected to decide within months on the company's request to market the device in the EU. If greenlighted, it would be the first artificial retina available for sale.
The implant works with a tiny video camera and transmitter in a pair of glasses and a small wireless computer.
The computer processes scenes captured by the camera and converts them into visual information in the form of an electronic signal that's sent to the implant. The device stimulates the retina's remaining healthy cells, causing them to relay the data to the optic nerve.
The visual information then moves to the brain, where it's translated into patterns of light that can take the shape of an object's outline. Patients need to learn how to interpret the flashes of light; for instance, they might decode three bright dots as the three points of a triangle.
The implant is intended only for people with a specific type of inherited retina problem, who still have some functional cells. They must have previously been able to see and their optic nerve must be working. About one in 3,000 people are blind due to one of this group of hereditary diseases, called retinitis pigmentosa, and might potentially benefit from the artificial retina.
The device comes with a hefty price tag — about $100,000. In Britain, the national health service sometimes pays for expensive new technologies for a small number of patients, said Lyndon da Cruz, one of the doctors who tested the artificial retina at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
He said if the artificial retina allows patients to be more self-sufficient, the implant could turn out to be cheaper than governments paying for higher levels of health care or in-home care for patients.
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-02-17 17:09
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