At the Gemelli artificial retina implant for a 70-year-old blind person

(ANSA) - ROME, OCTOBER 26 - A latest generation artificial retina was implanted for the first time in Italy in a seventy-year-old blind man who, upon awakening after surgery, has already allowed man to perceive light through special glasses. The intervention, carried out by the director of the UocOculistica of the University Polyclinic Foundation Agostino Gemelli Irccs and Professor of Ophthalmology Clinic at the Catholic University campus of Rome, Stanislao Rizzo, lasted just two hours. The retina implanted in the patient, suffering from a severe form of retinitis pigmentosa that caused the loss of vision, is called NR600 and was developed by the start-up Nano Retina, which has its headquarters in Herzliya, the Israeli 'Silicon Valley'. near Tel Aviv.The one carried out at Gemelli - reports the same Polyclinic in a note - is the sixth implant (the first in Italy) in the man of the new device, after those carried out last year in Israel and Belgium (the patients operated so far are aged from 59 to 81 years ). The NR600 artificial retina is a high-tech jewel, the result of over a decade of research. The implant, as big as the tip of a pencil (5 mm in diameter x 1 mm thick), is placed by a super expert in retinal surgery over the surface of the retina and the three-dimensional electrodes which it is composed of, penetrate between the retinal cells, to take the place of photoreceptors (the specialized cells that allow you to 'see'), activating with their impulses the ganglion cells that transmit information to the brain,making it travel along the optical pathways. Implantation of this device restores some of the retinal function, but does not restore sight. "Immediately after the implant the patient can return to 'see' the light - reads the note from Gemelli - but generally the rehabilitation program is started after a couple of weeks after the operation". Professor Rizzo was a pioneer in artificial retinal implants: in 2011 he was the first to use the Argus, the first retinal prosthesis used in a blind patient. (HANDLE).the light - we read in the note from Gemelli - but generally the rehabilitation program starts after a couple of weeks from the operation. "Professor Rizzo was a pioneer in artificial retinal implants: in 2011 he was the first to use the Argus, the first retinal prosthesis used in a blind patient. (ANSA).the light - we read in the note from Gemelli - but generally the rehabilitation program starts after a couple of weeks from the operation. "Professor Rizzo was a pioneer in artificial retinal implants: in 2011 he was the first to use the Argus, the first retinal prosthesis used in a blind patient. (ANSA).