The field of retinal prosthetic research, now more than 20 years old, has produced many high-quality technical options that have the potential to restore vision to patients with acquired disease of the outer retina. Having developed a wireless device implanted in the subretinal space, the Boston Retinal Implant Project has focused its efforts on developing scalable technologies to create a hermetic device that can deliver individually controlled pulses of electrical stimulation to each of hundreds of electrodes.

Neuroretinitis (NR) is an inflammatory disorder characterized by optic disc edema and subsequent formation of a macular star figure. Cases can be divided into those in which a specific infectious agent has been identified, those considered idiopathic, and those with recurrent attacks. Some reports have not distinguished among these subgroups, and it is unclear if their clinical features vary. Purvin and colleagues reviewed the literature and our own patients looking particularly at features that might better distinguish these subtypes.

Jeffrey Goldberg, author of the paper “Four Steps to Optic Nerve Regeneration” discusses the outcomes of this important new review article. The paper is published in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology.