Joe - I am so glad you got to be in this article and meet
Dr. Dobelle - that is awesome!  I have followed his work for
several years online and it is very exciting.
Congratulations on your citing - it is well deserved.

on 06/13/2002 10:54 PM, Joe Lazzaro at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Below is the CNN Artificial Vision article from their web site. I had the
> pleasure of meeting Doctor Dobelle, and several of his patients in New York
> on Monday of this week. Needless to say, I was totally blown away.
>
>
> Could bionic eye end blindness?
>
>
>
> By Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Kristi Petersen
>
>
>
> (CNN) --Artificial vision for the blind was once the stuff of science
>
> fiction -- Lt. Geordi La Forge's visor on "Star Trek" or the bionic eye of
>
> "The Six Million Dollar Man."
>
>
>
> But now, a limited form of artificial vision is a reality -- one some
>
> say is one of the greatest triumphs in medical history.
>
>
>
> "We are now at a watershed," Joseph Lazzaro, author of "Adaptive
>
> Technologies for Learning and Work Environments," told CNN. "We are at the
>
> beginning of the end of blindness with this type of technology."
>
>
>
> Any scientific advance would have broad implications. According to
>
> statistics from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., 1.1 million people in
>
> the United States are legally blind, while worldwide 42 million people are
>
> without sight.
>
>
>
> The Dobelle Institute is among several institutions trying in essence
>
> to create a new cornea through technology. The cornea allows light into the
>
> interior of the eye.
>
>
>
> Dobelle is using a digital video camera mounted on glasses to capture
>
> an image and send it to a small computer on the patient's belt: The images
>
> are processed and sent to electrodes implanted in the patient's visual
>
> cortex. The electrodes stimulate the brain, producing a pattern of bright
>
> spots that form an image.
>
>
>
> "With this device, you don't lose anything. You actually have a fifth
>
> sense restored, and that is what I just absolutely adore with this device,"
>
> said one of the first eight implant patients to test the technology, a man
>
> who asked to be identified only as Jens.
>
>
>
> "You are no longer blind. You might be blind to some objects, some
>
> situations, but you are not totally blind anymore," he said.
>
>
>
> A Canadian farmer and father of eight, Jens lost his sight 18 years
>
> ago in an accident. Now he's able to navigate through rooms, find doors and
>
> even drive a car to some degree.
>
>
>
> "I was able to very carefully drive and look from my left side to my
>
> right side, making sure I was between this row of trees on the right and the
>
> building on my left," he says. "When I got near any obstruction, I would see
>
> that there was an obstruction. I would also see the lack of obstructions,
>
> knowing I wasn't going to run over anybody ... It was a very nice feeling."
>
>
>
> The black and white image Jens sees is not solid, but resembles a dot
>
> matrix pattern. It's like looking at a sport scoreboard with different light
>
> patterns illuminated to show different scores.
>
>
>
> The miniaturization of equipment and more powerful computers have made
>
> this artificial vision possible, but it's not cheap: The operation,
>
> equipment and necessary training cost $70,000 per patient.
>
>
>
> All eight of the experimental surgeries were performed in Portugal:
>
> FDA regulations still prohibit the procedure in the United States.
>
>
>
> But Dr. Bill Dobelle, of the Dobelle Institute, says the technology
>
> has broad potential.
>
>
>
> "It may not work for people blinded as children or as infants, because
>
> the visual cortex did not develop normally," he says. "But I would say (it
>
> will work) for the vast majority of the blind -- 98 to 99 percent."
>
>
>
> Other researchers are focusing on new technology to replace damaged
>
> retinas, the part of the eye that converts light into electrical impulses
>
> that are sent to the brain to be turned into images.
>
>
>
> Optobionics Corporation of Wheaton, Illinois, says six blind or nearly
>
> blind people can now see light and some can see shapes after having the
>
> company's artificial retina implanted. Optobionics hopes to have the
>
> artificial retina on the market in five years, but critics say it will take
>
> years of independent testing to prove it helps the blind.
>
>
>
> NASA hopes to begin human testing this year on ceramic detectors that
>
> could be implanted in the retina to take over the job of damaged retinal
>
> cells. And the Office of Naval Research goes one step further -- it says it
>
> is on the way to developing a chip that would replicate the entire nerve
>
> center of the retina.
>
>
>
> With all the new research developments coming into view, Jens says
>
> he's glad he's been able to catch a glimpse of the future of blindness.
>
>
>
> "I could see that there was really potential for some really good life
>
> coming ahead of me," he says. "It was like, I would say, throwing back the
>
> curtains in the morning when you get up and letting in sunshine. I would
>
> equate it to that feeling."
>
>
>
> Find this article at:
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/06/13/bionic.eye/index.html
>
>
>
> http://www.JoeLazzaro.Com


Catherine Alfieri
7 Summer Tree
Pittsford, NY 14534
585-586-1682
Founder:
Monroe County Women's Disability Network
[log in to unmask]
http://www.mcwdn.org
VirtEd
http://www.mcwdn.org/VirtEd2.html
RochEd Online
http://www.mcwdn.org/Roch/RochEd.html
"See with your heart, Speak with your heart!"