Selective stimulation of the human optic nerve
(1999) 4th Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society — Location: Sendai (Japan) (23.August.1999)
Files
48-Selectivestimulationofthehumanopticnerve.pdf
Restricted Access - Adobe PDF
- 30.87 KB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- A blind volunteer affected with retinitis pigmentosa was intracranially implanted with a selfsizing cuff electrode around her right optic nerve. The nerve cuff electrode included 4 monopolar contacts. Its leads were brought through the skin where they ended in an external connector12. After recovery from surgery, electrical activation of the implanted optic nerve was undertaken. A specially dedicated Computer Based Stimulator was used. Stimulation consisted in charge balanced biphasic rectangular pulses. The stimulation resulted consistently and exclusively in visual sensations. The thresholds have remained stable for 14 months, so far. Phosphenes were broadly distributed throughout the visual field. They were either solid surface, or organized in rows, arrays, or clusters of dots. A topological organization was observed between phosphene location and the stimulating contact. Increasing the stimulation frequency decreased the current threshold for perception. The results of this experiment are consistent with the hypothesis that a visual prosthesis, based on electrical stimulation of the optic nerve, can be developed for human subjects with retinitis pigmentosa.
- Affiliations
Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH, USA 3Applied Neural Control Lab.
Citations
Vanlierde, A., Trullemans, C., Veraart, C., Michaux, G., Mortimer, J. T., Delbeke, J., Wanet-Defalque, M.-C., Verleysen, M., Glineur, O., & Parrini, S. (1999). Selective stimulation of the human optic nerve. Proceedings of the 4th Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society, p. 27-59. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/253701