The role of near-infrared reflectance imaging in retinal disease: A systematic review.

Near-infrared reflectance (NIR) retinal imaging aids in a better visualization of structures at the level of outer retina, retinal pigment epithelium, and choroid. It has multiple advantages, including easy acquisition in association with structural spectral domain optical coherence tomography, more comfort for patients, and enhanced contrast and spatial resolution. It helps in the diagnosis of chorioretinal diseases that present with minimal funduscopic findings and can be used to follow up many chorioretinal conditions. We describe the chorioretinal NIR imaging appearance and the clinical role of NIR imaging in ocular inflammatory disease, vascular and acquired disease, degenerative disease, tumors, associated systemic condition, toxic and traumatic disease, optic nerve head conditions, and physiological findings.

Behavioural responses to a photovoltaic subretinal prosthesis implanted in non-human primates.

Retinal dystrophies and age-related macular degeneration related to photoreceptor degeneration can cause blindness. In blind patients, although the electrical activation of the residual retinal circuit can provide useful artificial visual perception, the resolutions of current retinal prostheses have been limited either by large electrodes or small numbers of pixels. Here we report the evaluation, in three awake non-human primates, of a previously reported near-infrared-light-sensitive photovoltaic subretinal prosthesis. We show that multipixel stimulation of the prosthesis within radiation safety limits enabled eye tracking in the animals, that they responded to stimulations directed at the implant with repeated saccades and that the implant-induced responses were present two years after device implantation. Our findings pave the way for the clinical evaluation of the prosthesis in patients affected by dry atrophic age-related macular degeneration.