Abstract
Recently, very promising results have been obtained in clinical trials with eye-prostheses for the blind. There is a chance that advances in surgical techniques, microelectronics design, and material science may lead to the first really useful applications of retinal implants in the near future. This chapter will focus on the actual status of subretinal surgery and implant technologies. Opportunities and limitations of the different technologies will be discussed in terms of patients benefit and technological challenges. Finally, a vision on how the devices may work and look like in the future will be given.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge inspiration and continuous support by Prof. E. Zrenner from the University Eye Hospital Tuebingen and his team. We also acknowledge support by Dr. Wrobel, Dr. Harscher, and Mr. Kibbel from Retina Implant AG in Reutlingen, and Dr. Stett and Dr. Gerhardt from the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tuebingen.
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Rothermel, A. (2011). Retinal Implants for Blind Patients. In: Hoefflinger, B. (eds) Chips 2020. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23096-7_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23096-7_17
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