Although still far from the mainstream, modern bionics and nanotechnology are becoming increasingly active in the world of medicine. The different strands in which the modern bionics can be useful to patients with various diseases, for which treatment and rehabilitation was either hard, or nonexistent. Some of the most serious breakthroughs in recent decades are related to the development of visual implants, technologies to regain control for patients with paralysis, modern bony prosthetics for patients for amputated limbs and many others.
As early as 2010, some encouraging results by a team of surgeons at the Medical Center at Davis, CA have been known. Scientists have developed a bionic implant with built-in artificial muscles that is said to be able to save sight in people with significantly impaired facial muscles. According to scientists, the implant can restore blinking ability in patients with facial muscular injury. This ability is often disturbed by traumas and degenerative diseases and results in irreversible damage to the eyes and eventual blindness.
At the heart of the development is a silicon-based bionic polymer molecule. This artificial muscle works on the principle of living muscles, and can be expanded or shortened by a command of electrical signals. Bionic facial muscles are activated by a sensor located in the healthy eye, achieving full synchronization when blinking.
Perhaps the most revolutionary in such technology is the fact that theoretically it can be used to replace any damaged muscle in the human body if the tests prove to be successful. The method may also be used for non-medical purposes, such as for the artificial enhancement of muscle strength in normal and healthy muscles.
In this regard, some scientists believe that this is one of the first steps to develop an working full exoskeleton, which until recently was only discussed in science fiction.
In August 2012, the Australian Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) consortium announced that it had successfully carried out the world's first implantation of an early 24-electrode bionic eye prototype. The implant was administered to a female patient named Diane Asworth. She lost sight due to condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which is a hereditary degenerative eye disease, resulting in a gradual impairment of vision and, ultimately, total blindness.
Several years ago a team of German scientists also announced that they had created a bionic implant that is applicable to retinitis pygmethosis. It's a chip that implanted in the eye, catching light and sending nerve signals to the brain. In this case, however, it is a device and technology that can only benefit those who have lost sight, but not in patients who are blind by birth.
The chip has a size of 3 mm to 3 mm, it contains 1500 light diodes and can send electrical signals to the nerves in the retina, which then reach the brain. However, to realize the potential of the developed chip, the patient's brain must be able to process the visual information from the photoreceptors.
In the experiments conducted by the German team, one in three patients managed to distinguish objects and to 'see' different letters.
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