인공망막자극기 개발의 현황

Current Status of Retinal Implant Development

Degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa may lead to progressive vision loss in over 15 million people worldwide. While retinal degeneration destroys the photoreceptors, inner retinal circuits may continue to function for many years despite neuronal remodeling and are sufficiently preserved to make it possible to restore sight using prosthetic devices. Subretinal, epiretinal, and other retinal prostheses implants are currently designed to restore functional vision in retinal degenerative diseases. With the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Conformité Européenne (CE) approval of the Argus II (FDA 2013, CE 2011) and the Alpha-IMS (CE 2013), the use of retinal prostheses for vision loss is expanding rapidly. In this review, different types of retinal prostheses, implant locations, and visual outcomes have been summarized.