Submitted by Pandora: A tiny electrical implant that attaches to the retina may someday restore partial sight to millions of patients blinded by age-related macular degeneration, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. The device, in the early stages of human clinical testing, is part of a new class of so-called "smart" prostheses that link with the brain and nervous system to restore function lost to disease or injury, the researchers told reporters at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.Similar electrical stimulation devices known as cochlear implants have been used to treat deafness, and scientists are developing others to restore bladder control and movement to patients with spinal cord injury.The artificial retina is designed to take the place of photoreceptor cells in the brain that are charged with capturing and processing light."We anticipate this technology will help blind patients who have lost their sight through macular degeneration," said Dr. Mark Humayun, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southern California.

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in older adults in the United States and the developed world, affecting approximately 25 million to 30 million people.Humayun and his colleagues have teamed up with privately held Second Sight Medical Products to develop the implant, which just won clearance from U.S. regulators to test a second-generation device in a U.S. clinical trial.

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