Friday Lunch Seminar (English)
January 31, 2025
12:15 〜 13:00 (JST)

Sing-up for participation by noon, January 30
from here
You will be notified of participation details by e-mail on January 30.

Talk Title: Suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis: Clinical trial results and new visual processing updates

Carla Abbott
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Eye Research Australia and Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology),
University of Melbourne

Host PI: Takashi Fujikado

Abstract:
The second generation suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis was successfully implanted in 4 clinical trial participants with bare light perception due to retinitis pigmentosa in 2018. Device stability, functionality and adverse events were investigated at approximately 12 weeks intervals for up to 140 weeks (3.7 years) post-device activation. There were no device-related serious adverse events over the duration of the study. OCT confirmed device stability and position under the macula. All participants experienced improvements in localization abilities during screen-based, tabletop and orientation and mobility tasks. Participants successfully used the device at home in their local environments. At the conclusion of the trial, the visual processing software was updated with additional algorithms to detect faces and empty chairs. In indoor environments, the new algorithms worked better than the comprehensive visual processing system specially for the tasks of localizing faces and empty chairs. The trial and secondary study shows the device to be feasible for a larger clinical trial, with safety and efficacy data showing the device is safe and improves functional vision and socialisation outcomes.