The artificial silicon retina microchip for the treatment of vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa.

Objective: To determine the safety and efficacy of the artificial silicon retina (ASR) microchip implanted in the subretinal space to treat vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa.

Methods: The ASR microchip is a 2-mm-diameter silicon-based device that contains approximately 5000 microelectrode-tipped microphotodiodes and is powered by incident light. The right eyes of 6 patients with retinitis pigmentosa were implanted with the ASR microchip while the left eyes served as controls.

Subretinal implantation of semiconductor-based photodiodes: durability of novel implant designs.

Selective degeneration of the retinal photoreceptor layers underlies blindness in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other inherited retinal disorders. Because there are no therapies for these patients, we are evaluating the possibility that electrical stimulation delivered to the subretinal space by a microphotodiode array (MPA) could replace, in some aspect, the function of diseased photoreceptors. Early MPA prototypes utilized gold as the electrode material, which gradually dissolved during the postoperative period following subretinal implantation.