Candidates
Optimal candidates for retinal implants have retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration. These diseases cause blindness by affecting the photoreceptor cells in the outer layer of the retina, while leaving the inner and middle retinal layers intact. Minimally, a patient must have an intact ganglion cell layer in order to be a candidate for a retinal implant. This can be assessed non-invasively using optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. Other factors, including the amount of residual vision, overall health, and family commitment to rehabilitation, are also considered when determining candidates for retinal implants. In subjects with age-related macular degeneration, who may have intact peripheral vision, retinal implants could result in a hybrid form of vision. In this case the implant would supplement the remaining peripheral vision with central vision information.
Read more about this topic: Retinal Implant
Famous quotes containing the word candidates:
“In the past, it seemed to make sense for a sportswriter on sabbatical from the playpen to attend the quadrennial hawgkilling when Presidential candidates are chosen, to observe and report upon politicians at play. After all, national conventions are games of a sort, and sports offers few spectacles richer in low comedy.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
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—Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)
“I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates ... as the only available one, thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have been bought.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)