View clinical trials related to Blindness, Acquired.
Filter by:Visual impairment is one of the ten most prevalent causes of disability and poses extraordinary challenges to individuals in our society that relies heavily on sight. Living with acquired blindness not only lowers the quality of life of these individuals, but also strains society's limited resources for assistance, care and rehabilitation. However, to date, there is no effective treatment for man patients who are visually handicapped as a result of degeneration or damage to the inner layers of the retina, the optic nerve or the visual pathways. Therefore, there are compelling reasons to pursue the development of a cortical visual prosthesis capable of restoring some useful sight in these profoundly blind patients. However, the quality of current prosthetic vision is still rudimentary. A major outstanding challenge is translating electrode stimulation into a code that the brain can understand. Interactions between the device electronics and the retinal neurophysiology lead to distortions that can severely limit the quality of the generated visual experience. Rather than aiming to one day restore natural vision (which may remain elusive until the neural code of vision is fully understood), one might be better off thinking about how to create practical and useful artificial vision now. The goal of this work is to address fundamental questions that will allow the development of a Smart Bionic Eye, a device that relies on AI-powered scene understanding to augment the visual scene (similar to the Microsoft HoloLens), tailored to specific real-world tasks that are known to diminish the quality of life of people who are blind (e.g., face recognition, outdoor navigation, reading, self-care).
One of the most challenging tasks for blind and visually impaired individuals is navigation through a complex environment. The goal of the present multidisciplinary study is to increase spatial-cognition abilities in people who are blind or visually impaired through training with the previously-developed Cognitive-Kinesthetic Rehabilitation Training to improve navigation, and to investigate the resultant neuroplastic brain reorganization through multimodal brain imaging. In accordance with National Eye Institute (NEI) strategic goals, this multidisciplinary project will promote the development of well-informed new approaches to navigational rehabilitation, memory enhancement and cross-modal brain plasticity to benefit 'cutting edge' fields of mobile assistive technologies, vision restoration and memory facilitation for the aging brain.
The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of producing artificial vision in persons with blindness. Study participants will have wireless electrical stimulators implanted into the cortical vision processing areas of their brains. The ability of the participants to perceive artificial vision in response to electrical stimulation will be assessed.
This study aims to validate an observer-rated assessment titled "Functional Low-Vision Observer Rated Assessment (FLORA-20)", which comprises 20 functional vision tasks commonly performed in or around a blind individual's home environment. This study shall be carried out with individuals who have an implanted visual prosthesis device. There are no new implantations or changes to the original implant or external wearables being studied or tested. Additionally, data from the study shall not be used alter standard of care or the user's treatment options.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and performance of the EYEMATE system in patients undergoing concomitant implantation of a BKPro type 1 and an EYEMATE sensor over the 24 months period beginning at implantation.
This is an early feasibility study of a new device, the Orion Visual Cortical Prosthesis System. The device is intended to stimulate the surface of the visual cortex to induce visual perception in blind individuals.
Postural control requires the integration of the vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems. Vision, in particular, exerts a considerable influence on body sway during activities that require balance. The investigators aimed to analyze the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with proprioceptive exercises on postural control in individuals between 18 and 55 years old, with congenital and acquired blindness. The intervention will occur in three phases: 1 - Determine differences in postural control and gait between individuals with congenital and acquired blindness with and without the use of a guide stick when wearing shoes and when barefoot; 2 - Will be a pilot study containing 10 subjects in each group (total of 40) where a sample size estimation will be analyzed based on a gait and balance parameters result from a ten consecutive days treatment protocol consisting of tDCS plus proprioceptive; 3 - A treatment protocol will be conducted in which the participants will be allocated to four groups: G1 - active tDCS + dynamic proprioceptive exercises; G2 - sham tDCS + dynamic proprioceptive exercises; G3 - active tDCS + static proprioceptive exercises; and G4 - sham tDCS + static proprioceptive exercises. Evaluations will involve a camera system for three-dimensional gait analysis, a force plate to measure the postural control, and electromyography to analyze the muscle activities. Dynamic stability will be determined using the Timed Up and Go test and static stability will be analyzed with the aid of the force plate. The viability of this study will allow the determination of differences in postural control between individuals with congenital and acquired blindness, the analysis of the effect of tDCS on postural control, and the establishment of a rehabilitation protocol.
Purpose: To assess the feasibility of a surgical technique and present the preliminary safety results of a new glaucoma device devoid of a tube in painful blind eyes. Methods: Fifteen end-stage glaucomatous eyes without light perception vision were treated with a novel laminar drainage implant. Intraocular pressure was measured preoperatively and up to 24 months after surgery using a Goldmann applanation tonometer. A scale ranging from 0 to 10 was used to evaluate ocular pain. Conjunctival hyperemia, discharge, erosion or retraction, aqueous humor leakage, corneal edema, hyphema, anterior chamber cells and depth, dislocation of the implant, and filtering bleb height were assessed by slit-lamp biomicroscopy. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography was also assessed.
In this study, the investigators intend to evaluate the use of a commercially available neurostimulator system, NeuroPace RNS System to stimulate the visual cortex. The NeuroPace RNS System has a proven record of safety and reliability was approved by the FDA in November 2013. The RNS System is indicated for use in patients with epilepsy and includes a skull implanted neurostimulator. No modification to the RNS System is required for this study. This study will use this device to better understand the effect of stimulation on the visual parts of the brain. The main purposes of this study are to confirm the desired location to implant a device in the visual cortex, determine the amount of energy needed to elicit vision, and assess the nature of the vision that is produced. This information is important to have early in the process of designing a visual cortical prosthesis that could eventually be used for commercial use.