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Visual Prosthesis, Cortical Devices

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

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Synonyms

Intracortical microelectrodes for visual rehabilitation; Visual cortical implants; Visual neuroprosthesis

Definition

Cortical prostheses are a subgroup of visual neuroprostheses capable of eliciting visual percepts in profoundly blind people through direct stimulation of the visual part of the brain. This approach is the only treatment available for blindness caused by glaucoma, optic atrophy, or by diseases of the central visual pathways such as brain injuries or stroke.

Detailed Description

As blindness results from an interruption in the normal flow of signals along the visual pathways, a visual prosthesis has to excite the neurons of the pathway at some point after the damage site (Normann et al. 1996). The only requirement is that the device should contact with still functioning neural elements. Since retinal diseases frequently reduce visual acuity and result in non-curable blindness, several groups worldwide are working on the development of different prostheses...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Histology and Institute of Bioengineering, University Miguel Hernández, Elche (Alicante), Spain

    Eduardo Fernandez

Authors
  1. Eduardo Fernandez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Fernandez .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Fernandez, E. (2015). Visual Prosthesis, Cortical Devices. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6675-8_662

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