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Practical concepts with the Argus II retinal prosthesis
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There are revolutionary advances in surgery — radical shifts that change the trajectory of a field — and evolutionary changes, or more incremental advances. The introduction of the Argus II retinal prosthesis was clearly a revolutionary change and earned its primary inventor, Mark S. Humayun, MD, PhD, of USC, the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2016.
The Argus II, named after Argus Panoptes, the all-seeing giant with 100 eyes from Greek mythology, has been termed the “bionic retina” by the lay press. The Argus II received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval as a humanitarian use device for patients who have bare light perception or no light perception vision secondary to retinitis pigmentosa.
In this installment of Practical Retina, Paul Hahn, MD, PhD, from NJ Retina shares his significant experience in implanting the Argus II. He explains the importance of careful patient selection, setting appropriate patient expectations, and the rehabilitative process required postoperatively. Dr. Hahn provides surgical pearls for the various steps of the implantation procedure.
Artificial vision will hopefully become a burgeoning field, and the Argus II represents an early milestone in this effort. A number of other devices are in various stages of development. Although there are likely to remain a limited number of centers and surgeons who perform this specialized procedure throughout the world, readers are sure to find Dr. Hahn's insights on the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis enlightening. Read more.
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