A small camera mounted on spectacles and connected to the optical nerve could restore the sight of thousands of people suffering from macular degeneration, scientists said on Monday (February 21).
The medical advance has the potential to help over 300,000 Europeans whose sight is impaired as the thin layer of tissue which lines the eye and processes images deteriorates, Professor Claude Veraart told a news conference in Brussels.
'We have implanted (the device) in two patients so far,' said Veraart, who is head of the Neural Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory of the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve.
A camera mounted on spectacles sends images to an electronic device implanted behind the eye and stimulates the optic nerve which passes the information to the brain.
Based on the price of hearing devices known as Cochlear implants, which also involve inserting components in the head, the new technology will cost about Û20,000, Veraart told Reuters .
Fifteen independent teams around the world are working on similar technology but the Belgian project, which coordinates the pan-European effort involving researchers in France and Germany, has the best results, he added.
EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said the device would be sold on the market from 2008-10.
'This is a very good example where European technology can lead worldwide,' she said, adding that the cost of the equipment would fall over time.
The EU executive Commission has granted Û2.79m towards research into treating visual impairment.
It wants to increase research spending across the 25-nation bloc to revive stagnant economic growth and stop the brain drain of top scientists to the US.
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