Magnetic implants used to treat ‘dancing eyes’

The implantable oculomotor prosthesis, composed of a set of magnets, was developed by a collaborative team from the University College London (UCL) and University of Oxford. The device was then tested successfully on a patient with nystagmus by implanting it in the socket beneath each eye.{{quote-A:R-W:480-I:2-Q: Our study opens a new field of using magnetic implants to optimise the movent of body parts, -WHO:Parashkev Nachev, Senior Clinical Research Associate at the Institute of Neurology}}“Our study opens a new field of using magnetic implants to optimise the movent of body parts,” lead author Dr Parashkev Nachev from the UCL Institute of Neurology said.“Nystagmus has numerous causes with different origins in the central nervous syst, which poses a challenge for developing a pharmaceutical treatment, so we chose to focus on the eye muscles thselves. But until now, mechanical approaches have been elusive because of the need to stop the involuntary eye movents without preventing the natural, intentional movents of shifting gaze.”In this instance, the patient developed the probl in his late 40s after he contracted Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The condition was so debilitating it strongly impacted on his quality of life and eventually resulted in his loss of ployment.Prompted by the patient’s condition, the team carefully studied the concept of using an oculomotor prosthesis and developed the device using a magnet in the orbital floor of the eye. The magnet was then made to interact with a series of small magnets surgically attached to one of the extraocular muscles that control eye movent.The magnets are covered in titanium in order to enable magnetic pressure and avoid damage to tissues that could result from metal corrosion.{{quote-A:L-W:500-I:4-Q:“While the exact neural mechanisms causing nystagmus are still not fully understood, we have shown that it can still be corrected with a prosthesis, without needing to address the neural cause. What matters here is the movent of the eye, not how it is generated,”-WHO:Christopher Kennard, Head of Medical Sciences Division}}“Fortunately the force used for voluntary eye movents is greater than the force causing the flickering movents, so we only needed quite small magnets, minimising the risk of immobilising the eye,” UCL medical physics and biomedical engineering Professor Quentin Pankhurst said.After the procedure, overall visual acuity significantly improved without negative effects on functional range of movents, except for a degree of double vision. However, the patient was quick to point out that the double vision has been a symptom developed prior to the onset of nystagmus.After four years of monitoring, the patient has not developed any symptoms related to the procedure and visual acuity has rained stable.“While the exact neural mechanisms causing nystagmus are still not fully understood, we have shown that it can still be corrected with a prosthesis, without needing to address the neural cause. What matters here is the movent of the eye, not how it is generated,” study co-author Professor Christopher Kennard from the University of Oxford said.Despite the success of the procedure, the researchers cautioned that the device may not be suitable for all nystagmus patients, particularly those who are regularly required to undergo magnetic resonance imaging scans.