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Argus II significantly improves vision-related tasks at 3 years
A retinal prosthesis greatly improved everyday visual hands-on tasks, according to researchers in Clinical and Experimental Optometry.
Twenty-six blind patients implanted with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System were evaluated with the Functional Low Vision Observer Rated Assessment (FLORA) for a mean of 36 months.
Patients completed a total of 35 tasks with the device on vs. off. Overall, 24 of the tasks (69%) showed a statistically significant improvement in outcome with the device on, according to Geruschat and colleagues. Nine tasks (26%) showed no significant change between on vs. off.
The tasks that fell under orientation, mobility and interaction domains were significantly improved with the device on, according to the study.
Within the 16 items of the daily life domain, there was a significant improvement in task-completion score for the majority of all activities.
In tasks that used light projection and contrast to identify objects, the largest improvement was recorded when the device was on. This suggests that Argus II provides its greatest advantage in environments with maximum light contrast, according to researchers. – by Abigail Sutton
Disclosure: Geruschat reported no financial disclosures. For all remaining authors, please see the full study.