A study conducted by the Institute for Medical Psychology at Otto-v.-Guericke University in Germany has found applying electrical current stimulation to the brain of partially blind patients results in partially restored vision.
The randomized, multi-center, sham-controlled clinical trial reportedly studied patients with visual deficits due to glaucoma, optic nerve atrophy, or anterior ischemic optic neuropathy caused by inflammation, optic nerve compression, congenital anomalies, or Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Of the 45 patients that underwent 10 daily applications of noninvasive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (ACS) up to 50 minutes per day over a two-week period, a 24 percent improvement of the visual field was measured and a 59 percent improvement in the defective visual field sector. Additionally, those who received the ACS treatment showed a 25 percent visual field improvement two months later.
Image courtesy National Eye Institute.
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