Let there be sight! Michigan man の中で first in the U.S. to get 'bionic 注目する，もくろむ'

• US 患者 Roger Pontz has been blind for years
  
• He has now had some of his 見通し 回復するd thanks to a bionic 注目する，もくろむ
• The 注目する，もくろむ gives those the ability to see 影をつくる／尾行するs and 形態／調整s
  

By Associated 圧力（をかける）

Published: 12:46 BST, 23 April 2014 | Updated: 17:28 BST, 23 April 2014

A degenerative 注目する，もくろむ 病気 slowly robbed Roger Pontz of his 見通し.

診断するd with retinitis pigmentosa as a 十代の少年少女, Pontz has been almost 完全に blind for years.

Now, thanks to a high-tech 手続き that 伴う／関わるd the surgical implantation of a 'bionic 注目する，もくろむ,' he's 回復するd enough of his eyesight to catch small glimpses of his wife, grandson and cat.

'It's awesome. It's exciting ― seeing something new every day,' Pontz said during a 最近の 任命 at the University of Michigan Kellogg 注目する，もくろむ 中心.

Scroll 負かす／撃墜する for ビデオ

（疑いを）晴らす to see: Roger Pontz wears special glasses that house a small ビデオ （機の）カム 時代 and transmitter at the University of Michigan Kellogg 注目する，もくろむ 中心

開拓するing: The Kellogg 注目する，もくろむ 中心 at Ann Arbor is the first 施設 in the U.S. to implant a "bionic 注目する，もくろむ" since the FDA 調印するd off on it last year

Let there be sight: The pulses 刺激する the retina?s remaining healthy 独房s, 原因（となる）ing them to relay the data to the 視覚の 神経. The visual （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） then moves to the brain, where it is translated into patterns of light that can take the 形態／調整 of an 反対する's 輪郭（を描く）, 許すing the 患者 to 回復する some visual 機能（する）／行事

The 55-year-old former 競争の激しい weightlifter and factory 労働者 is one of four people in the U.S. to receive an 人工的な retina since the Food and 麻薬 行政 調印するd off on its use last year.

The 施設 in Ann Arbor has been the 場所／位置 of all four such 外科s since FDA 是認. A fifth is scheduled for next month.

Retinitis pigmentosa is an 相続するd 病気 that 原因（となる）s slow but 進歩／革新的な 見通し loss 予定 to a 漸進的な loss of the light-極度の慎重さを要する retinal 独房s called 棒s and 反対／詐欺s.

患者s experience loss of 味方する 見通し and night 見通し, then central 見通し, which can result in 近づく blindness.

Not all of the 100,000 or so people in the U.S. with retinitis pigmentosa can 利益 from the bionic 注目する，もくろむ. An 概算の 10,000 have 見通し low enough, said Dr. Brian Mech, an (n)役員／(a)執行力のある with Second Sight 医療の 製品s Inc., the Sylmar, Calif.-based company that makes the 装置.

Of those, about 7,500 are 適格の for the 外科.?

科学（工学）技術: The glasses are part of a system developed by a California company that wirelessly 送信する／伝染させるs images from the camera, 変えるd into a 一連の 電気の pulses, to an array of electrodes on the surface of Po ntz' retina

開拓するs: Dr. Thiran Jayasundera, left, looks at Roger Pontz's left 注目する，もくろむ as Pontz's wife, Terri Pontz, 権利, looks on. The 人工的な implant that 現在／一般に resides in Pontz?s left 注目する，もくろむ is called the Argus II, and is part of the system developed by a California company that 含むs a small ビデオ camera and transmitter housed in a pair of glasses

The 人工的な implant in Pontz's left 注目する，もくろむ is part of a system developed by Second Sight that 含むs a small ビデオ camera and transmitter housed in a pair of glasses.

Images from the camera are 変えるd into a 一連の 電気の pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. The pulses 刺激する the retina's remaining healthy 独房s, 原因（となる）ing them to relay the signal to the 視覚の 神経.

The visual （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） then moves to the brain, where it is translated into patterns of light that can be 認めるd and 解釈する／通訳するd, 許すing the 患者 to 回復する some visual 機能（する）／行事.

When wearing the glasses, which Pontz 言及するs to as his '注目する，もくろむs,' he can identify and 得る，とらえる his cat and 人物／姿／数字 out that a flash of light is his grandson hightailing it to the kitchen.

The visual 改良 is いつかs startling for Pontz and his wife, Terri, who is just as amazed at her husband's 進歩 as he is.

'I said something I never thought I'd say: 'Stop 星／主役にするing at me while I'm eating,' Terri Pontz said.

She 運動s her husband the nearly 200 miles from tiny Reed City, Michigan, to Ann Arbor for check-ups and visits with occupational therapist Ashley Howson, who helps Roger Pontz reawaken his visual memory and learn techniques needed to make the most of his new 見通し.

Seeing is believing: Images from the camera are 変えるd into a 一連の 電気の pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina

Learning to see: Dr. Naheed 旅宿泊所, 権利, 作品 with Roger Pontz, left, on an 演習 to 実験（する） how 井戸／弁護士席 he sees 形態／調整s on a computer 審査する. Pontz 苦しむs from a degenerative 注目する，もくろむ 病気 called retinitis pigmentosa and is the second 患者 in the U.S. to surgically receive a 'bionic 注目する，もくろむ'

At the 最近の visit, Howson 手渡すd Pontz white and 黒人／ボイコット plates, 教えるd him to move them 支援する and 前へ／外へ in 前線 of light and dark backgrounds and asked that he 決定する their color.

支援する home, Terri Pontz helps her husband practice the techniques he learns in Ann Arbor.

For them, the long hours on the road and the homework assignments are a blessing.

'What's it 価値（がある） to see again? It's 価値（がある） everything,' Terri Pontz said.

The 人工的な retina 手続き has been 成し遂げるd several-dozen times over the past few years in Europe, and the 期待 is that it will find 類似の success in the U.S., where the University of Michigan is one of 12 中心s 受託するing 協議s for 患者s.

候補者s for the retinal prosthesis must be 25 or older with end-行う／開催する／段階 retinitis pigmentosa that has 進歩d to the point of having '明らかにする light' or no light perception in both 注目する，もくろむs.

Dr. Thiran Jayasundera, one of two 内科医s who 成し遂げるd the 4.5-hour 外科 on Roger Pontz, is scheduled to discuss his experiences with the retinal prosthesis 過程 during a 会合 of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive 外科 on Friday in Boston. He calls it a 'game-changer.'

Pontz agrees: 'I can walk through the house with 緩和する. If that's all I get out of this, it'd be 広大な／多数の／重要な.'