This project is designed to evaluate the feasibility of a visual prosthesis for totally blind individuals by stimulating chronically implanted microelectrodes in the visual cortex. A 42-year-old woman who has been blind for 22 years was implanted with an array of 38 electrodes in the visual cortex. Stimulation of individual electrodes produced sensations of light called phosphenes. Phosphenes were produced with 34 of the 38 electrodes with currents that were 100 to 1000 times lower than had been reported for surface stimulation of the visual cortex. Additional blind patients have to be tested before we will know if intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of the visual cortex is a feasible technique for producing a visual prosthesis. However, all the tests performed to date indicate that ICMS may be a feasible technique.
