Page 15 - Envision January-February 2020

Cover Story

V ISION S CIENCE R E SE AR CH

BRAIN IMPLANT RESTORES VISUAL
PERCEPTION TO THE BLIND This is the first completely implantable
Jason Esterhuizen was 23, an athlete and device that people can use in their own
aspiring commercial pilot in his native homes without having to be plugged into
South Africa, when a horrific car accident an external device, says Dr. Pouratian. “It
destroyed his eyesight in 2011. Eight helps them recognize, for example, where
years later, Esterhuizen has regained some a doorway is, where the sidewalk begins
visual perception—and, just as important, or ends, or where the crosswalk is. These
hope for the future—thanks to a wireless are all extremely meaningful events that
brain implant called Orion. can help improve a person’s quality of
life.”
The experimental system, which was
designated a “Breakthrough Device” by The device demonstrated a favourable
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety profile at 12 months. Five
(FDA), was implanted in Jason’s brain non-serious adverse events and one serious
almost two years ago as part of a five-year adverse event, a seizure, were reported.
feasibility trial. Non-serious adverse events included
tingling in the hands, headaches and
The operation removed a piece of his other transient events that were not
skull and implanted an electrical array considered significant.
of 60 electrodes on the surface on his
visual cortex. The rest of the device was “We are most concerned about the risk
placed on his skull, where it’s covered by of causing a seizure by stimulating the
skin and hair. It consists of a miniature brain,” said Dr. Pouratian. “We excluded
video camera mounted on a pair of patients with prior brain surgery, those
eyeglasses, an antenna and a video with prior significant head trauma or
processing unit (VPU). The system seizure disorders, and those who may
wirelessly converts real-time images have an ongoing need for MRI.”
captured by the camera into a series of
electrical pulses. These pulses stimulate Esterhuizen, who is one of six people,
the electrodes implanted on the brain’s aged 29 to 57, involved in the study,
visual cortex, which perceives patterns of says that Orion has transformed his life.
light and interprets them as visual clues. “It has empowered me in so many ways.
I can now distinguish light from dark
“It’s like looking at the stars at night,” objects on a table in just seconds, sort
says Esterhuizen. “I see little white dark from light-coloured laundry and
dots (called phosphenes) on a black find my way in lighted hallways without
background. As a person walks toward using a cane. Outside, I see the white line / THIS IS THE FIRST COMPLETELY IMPLANTABLE DEVICE THAT PEOPLE CAN USE IN THEIR OWN HOMES. /
me, I might see three small dots and as on the road so I can avoid traffic and cross
they move closer, more and more dots the street safely.”
light up.”
He recently competed with his team in
Orion (Second Sight Medical Products) is the 2019 World Series for beep baseball—
geared to people who were once sighted a form of the sport for people who are
but lost their vision due to injury or visually impaired. And at the Los Angeles
disease. While it doesn’t provide normal Braille Institute, where he’s a regular, he’s
sight, it does show them patterns of light the envy of everyone he meets. “They all
that they learn to interpret over time, said want an Orion,” he says. Dr. Pouratian
Dr. Nader Pouratian, a neurosurgeon at estimates that the device might be
UCLA Health and the study’s principal available commercially in the next three
investigator. to five years. n
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