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Ayton LN, Rizzo JF, Bailey IL, Colenbrander A, Dagnelie G, Geruschat DR, Hessburg PC, McCarthy CD, Petoe MA, Rubin GS, Troyk PR. Harmonization of Outcomes and Vision Endpoints in Vision Restoration Trials: Recommendations from the International HOVER Taskforce. Transl Vis Sci Technol 2020; 9:25. [PMID: 32864194 PMCID: PMC7426586 DOI: 10.1167/tvst.9.8.25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Translational research in vision prosthetics, gene therapy, optogenetics, stem cell and other forms of transplantation, and sensory substitution is creating new therapeutic options for patients with neural forms of blindness. The technical challenges faced by each of these disciplines differ considerably, but they all face the same challenge of how to assess vision in patients with ultra-low vision (ULV), who will be the earliest subjects to receive new therapies. Historically, there were few tests to assess vision in ULV patients. In the 1990s, the field of visual prosthetics expanded rapidly, and this activity led to a heightened need to develop better tests to quantify end points for clinical studies. Each group tended to develop novel tests, which made it difficult to compare outcomes across groups. The common lack of validation of the tests and the variable use of controls added to the challenge of interpreting the outcomes of these clinical studies. In 2014, at the bi-annual International "Eye and the Chip" meeting of experts in the field of visual prosthetics, a group of interested leaders agreed to work cooperatively to develop the International Harmonization of Outcomes and Vision Endpoints in Vision Restoration Trials (HOVER) Taskforce. Under this banner, more than 80 specialists across seven topic areas joined an effort to formulate guidelines for performing and reporting psychophysical tests in humans who participate in clinical trials for visual restoration. This document provides the complete version of the consensus opinions from the HOVER taskforce, which, together with its rules of governance, will be posted on the website of the Henry Ford Department of Ophthalmology (www.artificialvision.org). Research groups or companies that choose to follow these guidelines are encouraged to include a specific statement to that effect in their communications to the public. The Executive Committee of the HOVER Taskforce will maintain a list of all human psychophysical research in the relevant fields of research on the same website to provide an overview of methods and outcomes of all clinical work being performed in an attempt to restore vision to the blind. This website will also specify which scientific publications contain the statement of certification. The website will be updated every 2 years and continue to exist as a living document of worldwide efforts to restore vision to the blind. The HOVER consensus document has been written by over 80 of the world's experts in vision restoration and low vision and provides recommendations on the measurement and reporting of patient outcomes in vision restoration trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren N. Ayton
- Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences and Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
- Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, East Melbourne, Australia
| | - Joseph F. Rizzo
- Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ian L. Bailey
- School of Optometry, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - August Colenbrander
- Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Gislin Dagnelie
- Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Duane R. Geruschat
- Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center, Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Philip C. Hessburg
- Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, Henry Ford Health System, Grosse Pointe Park, MI, USA
| | - Chris D. McCarthy
- Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
| | | | - Gary S. Rubin
- University College London Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK
| | - Philip R. Troyk
- Armour College of Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA
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Sanchez-Garcia M, Martinez-Cantin R, Guerrero JJ. Semantic and structural image segmentation for prosthetic vision. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0227677. [PMID: 31995568 PMCID: PMC6988941 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Prosthetic vision is being applied to partially recover the retinal stimulation of visually impaired people. However, the phosphenic images produced by the implants have very limited information bandwidth due to the poor resolution and lack of color or contrast. The ability of object recognition and scene understanding in real environments is severely restricted for prosthetic users. Computer vision can play a key role to overcome the limitations and to optimize the visual information in the prosthetic vision, improving the amount of information that is presented. We present a new approach to build a schematic representation of indoor environments for simulated phosphene images. The proposed method combines a variety of convolutional neural networks for extracting and conveying relevant information about the scene such as structural informative edges of the environment and silhouettes of segmented objects. Experiments were conducted with normal sighted subjects with a Simulated Prosthetic Vision system. The results show good accuracy for object recognition and room identification tasks for indoor scenes using the proposed approach, compared to other image processing methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melani Sanchez-Garcia
- Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón (I3A), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Ruben Martinez-Cantin
- Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón (I3A), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Jose J. Guerrero
- Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón (I3A), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
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Lewis PM, Ayton LN, Guymer RH, Lowery AJ, Blamey PJ, Allen PJ, Luu CD, Rosenfeld JV. Advances in implantable bionic devices for blindness: a review. ANZ J Surg 2016; 86:654-9. [PMID: 27301783 PMCID: PMC5132139 DOI: 10.1111/ans.13616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2016] [Revised: 03/03/2016] [Accepted: 03/17/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Since the 1950s, vision researchers have been working towards the ambitious goal of restoring a functional level of vision to the blind via electrical stimulation of the visual pathways. Groups based in Australia, USA, Germany, France and Japan report progress in the translation of retinal visual prosthetics from the experimental to clinical domains, with two retinal visual prostheses having recently received regulatory approval for clinical use. Regulatory approval for cortical visual prostheses is yet to be obtained; however, several groups report plans to conduct clinical trials in the near future, building upon the seminal clinical studies of Brindley and Dobelle. In this review, we discuss the general principles of visual prostheses employing electrical stimulation of the visual pathways, focusing on the retina and visual cortex as the two most extensively studied stimulation sites. We also discuss the surgical and functional outcomes reported to date for retinal and cortical prostheses, concluding with a brief discussion of novel developments in this field and an outlook for the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip M Lewis
- Department of Neurosurgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Vision Group, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Institute of Medical Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Lauren N Ayton
- Centre for Eye Research Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Robyn H Guymer
- Centre for Eye Research Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Arthur J Lowery
- Monash Vision Group, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Institute of Medical Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Peter J Blamey
- Bionics Institute, Department of Medical Bionics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Penelope J Allen
- Centre for Eye Research Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Chi D Luu
- Centre for Eye Research Australia, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jeffrey V Rosenfeld
- Department of Neurosurgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Department of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Vision Group, Faculty of Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,Monash Institute of Medical Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.,F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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