Retina surgeons at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center have performed the first – and second – surgeries in the United States to implant an artificial retina, or “bionic eye,” since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the device last year. Thiran Jayasundera, M.D., and David N. Zacks, M.D., Ph.D., performed the surgery for a patient who has retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative and blinding eye disease This follows the first ever commercial implant of Argus II which took place in Italy in 2011. There have been 18 procedures in Germany and 12 in Italy since then. Dr. Stanislao Rizzo, Director of the University Hospital Ophthalmic Department in Pisa, Italy, who first implanted the Argus II in Europe, provided guidance throughout the first procedure. Dr. Rizzo has performed the largest number of implants on patients worldwide since 2011.
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