title: Visual sensations produced by optic nerve stimulation using an implanted self-sizing spiral cuff electrode.
abstract: A blind volunteer with retinitis pigmentosa was chronically implanted with a self-sizing spiral cuff electrode around an optic nerve. Electrical stimuli applied to the nerve produced localized visual sensations that were broadly distributed throughout the visual field and could be varied by changing the stimulating conditions. These results demonstrate the potential for constructing a visual prosthesis, based on electrical stimulation of the optic nerve, for blind subjects who have intact retinal ganglion cells.
authors.affiliation: Neural Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate, 54, UCL-54.46 B-1200, Brussels, Belgium. veraart@gren.ucl.ac.be
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Veraart
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raftopoulos
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Mortimer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delbeke
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pins
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Michaux
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanlierde
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parrini
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wanet-Defalque
mesh_terms: D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005137:Eye, Artificial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*