Power and Data Telemetry System for a 256-Channel Retinal Implant

描述(由申请人提供)： 这项建议的目的是开发新一代密封式微型神经刺激器的电力和数据遥测系统，适合于患者眼睛的慢性植入 治疗视网膜退行性疾病。这些视网膜假体必须非常小才能植入眼睛外部，因此不含电池。这些设备将从患者戴在眼镜上的摄像头接收图像数据。来自外部电池的电力和来自外部摄像头的数据都将被无线传输到假肢。这是通过在假体植入线圈附近放置一个外部线圈来完成的。向外部线圈输送正弦电流会在植入的线圈中产生感应电压的磁场。这些正弦电流可以被调制来编码数据。我们团队和其他人在过去开发的视网膜假体已经实现了16到60个独立的刺激通道或像素。退伍军人管理局创新视觉康复中心(CIVR)致力于建造一种至少有256个通道的视网膜假体，用于未来的临床试验。这样的设备将需要更多的传输功率来支持大型 通道数量和更高的数据传输带宽以提供附加刺激信息。这项提案旨在开发这一下一代遥测系统。此外，由于这种假体是为人类使用的，我们优化的遥测系统将包括新的安全功能。它将实施双向遥测，将描述植入物功能的信息发送到外部控制器，来自刺激电极的波形，以及来自植入物电源的测量。第一个将用于确保植入物工作正常，在接收数据时没有故障或错误。第二个将用于监测电极的电化学状态，以确保它们不会随着时间的推移而发生重大变化。第三条信息，植入物电源的测量，将被用来调整电力遥测系统，以提供恰到好处的电力。太小的功率会使植入物功能不正常，太多会导致不必要的散热，甚至会损坏设备。最终的电力和数据遥测系统将被整合到我们的下一代256通道视网膜假体中，该假体将被封装在由CIVR团队其他成员正在开发的最先进的钛封装中。这些假体将由CIVR的外科团队在尤卡坦小型猪试验中进行测试。在那之后，我们计划进入人体临床试验，希望这种设备可以在临床上应用于盲人。利用这种优化的遥测系统制作的256通道设备有望通过比以前更具体、更有针对性的神经刺激为退伍军人和失明退伍军人打开新的康复可能性-特别是为盲人患者恢复真正有用的视力，但也在其他医学领域，如脑深部刺激或脊髓刺激。总而言之，我们希望我们服务的盲人群体最终将受益于我们创造复杂、高度生物稳定的视网膜神经刺激器的能力所带来的视力改善；此外，未来所有类型的无线植入式假体的通道容量和有效性有望得到改善。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this proposal is to develop power and data telemetry systems for a new generation of hermetic miniaturized neural stimulators suitable for chronic implantation in a patient's eye to treat degenerative diseases of the retina. These retinal prostheses will necessarily be very small in order to be implanted onto the outside of the eye, and will therefore contain no battery. The devices will receive image data from a camera worn by the patient on a pair of glasses. Both power from an external battery and data from the external camera will be transmitted wirelessly to the prosthesis. This is done by placing an external coil near the implanted coil of the prosthesis. Delivering sinusoidal current to the external coil creates a magnetic field that induces a voltage in the implanted coil. These sinusoidal currents can be modulated to encode data. Retinal prostheses developed in the past by our group and others have implemented between 16 and 60 independent stimulating channels, or pixels. The VA Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation (CIVR) strives to build a retinal prosthesis with at least 256 channels for future clinical trials. Such a device will require both more transmitted power to support the large number of channels, and a higher data transmission bandwidth to supply the additional stimulation information. This proposal aims to develop this next-generation telemetry system. Additionally, since this prosthesis is meant for use in humans, our optimized telemetry system will include new safety features. It will implement bidirectional telemetry to send information to the external controller describing the function of the implant, waveforms from the stimulating electrodes, and measurements from the implant's power supplies. The first of these will be used to ensure that the implant is working properly, with no malfunctions or errors in receiving data. The second will be used to monitor the electrochemical status of the electrodes to ensure they are not changing significantly over time. The third piece of information, measurements of the implant's power supplies, will be used to adjust the power telemetry system to deliver just the right amount of power. Too little power can make the implant function improperly, and too much can cause unnecessary heat dissipation and even damage to the device. The final power and data telemetry system will be incorporated into our next-generation 256-channel retinal prosthesis, which will be enclosed in the state-of- the-art titanium package being developed by other members of the CIVR team. These prostheses will be tested by the surgical team of the CIVR in Yucatan minipig trials. After that, we plan to enter clinical trials in humans with the hop that this device will become clinically available to the blind. This 256-channel device made possibly with this optimized telemetry system is expected to open up to the VA and to blind veterans new rehabilitative possibilities through more specific, targeted neural stimulation than has previously been possible- especially for the restoration of truly useful vision to blind patients, but also in other areas of medicine such as deep brain or spinal cord stimulation. In sum, it is our hope that the blind population we serve will ultimately benefit from the improved visual acuity that will arise from our ability to create complex, highly biostable retinal neurostimulators; additionally, the channel capacity and efficacy of future wireless implantable prostheses of all types is expected to be improved.