EyeWorld Asia-Pacific June 2012 Issue

June 2012 25 EWAP CATARACT/IOL Far vision—pupil dilation Near vision—pupil constriction Source: Eyemaginations/ELENZA Electronic IOLs: The future of cataract surgery by Faith A. Hayden EyeWorld Staff Writer “Three or 4 years ago, I would have described this as science fiction,” said Richard L. Lindstrom, MD , founder and attending surgeon, Minnesota Eye Consultants, Minn., USA, as well as a member of ELENZA’s board of directors. “I am also involved with PixelOptics and thought this was science fiction even for glasses. Once that was achieved, the question became could [the technology] be made small enough to be duplicated in an IOL? It turns out that it can be duplicated and is being duplicated.” ELENZA is an extraordinarily complicated system unlike anything ophthalmology has seen, relying on our individual pupillary response to automatically trigger accommodation between far and near. “It’s been proven that the pupil responds to accommodation by getting smaller,” Dr. Lindstrom explained. “The IOL includes sensors that detect very small changes in pupil size. The pupillary response to accommodation Introducing the ELENZA Sapphire AutoFocal IOL, the world’s first implant- able lens with artificial intelligence I magine offering a cataract patient an IOL powered by its own power cell and computer chip embedded inside. It’s rechargeable and fully programmable, allowing the physician to tweak its optical power as the patient’s visual needs change. It’s an IOL that won’t just mimic natural human accommodation, it’s designed to surpass it. This isn’t some lofty overpromise by a science fiction-obsessed surgeon; this is the future of IOL technology. And it’s standing on our doorstep. Rudy Mazzocchi is chief executive officer of ELENZA (Roanoke, Va., USA), the developer of the IOL with the same name. His voice elevates with excitement when speaking of the IOL, calling it the type of innovation that “comes along once in a lifetime”. “This will probably be the biggest thing I’ll ever do,” he said. “It’s big not only for the ophthalmology industry, but also represents a pioneering step in the development of active, programmable human implants.” ELENZA combines nanotechnology, artificial intelligence (neural networks-based memory), and advanced electronics to seamlessly autofocus an optic from far to near without movement. Therefore, the lens doesn’t have to rely on precise contact with ciliary muscles to move and accommodate properly. “You’ve seen windows where you flip a switch and it polarizes the glass and turns it dark. This is a similar concept,” said Mr. Mazzocchi. “We’re changing the molecular configuration of the liquid crystal to alter the optical power of the lens.” The IOL builds upon an existing technology from PixelOptics (Roanoke, Va., USA), which created the world’s first electronically focusing prescription eyewear. AT A GLANCE • ELENZA is the world’s first IOL with artificial intelligence • It uses advanced electronics to seamlessly autofocus an optic from far to near without movement • The lens is fully programmable and customizable after implantation is different from the pupillary response to light in regard to amplitude and how rapidly it occurs in response to accommodation.” The microscopic rechargeable lithium-ion battery powering ELENZA didn’t even exist at the beginning of the project, said Andrew Maxwell, MD, PhD, chairman of ELENZA’s medical advisory board. Similar batteries have been used in cochlear implants, but the batteries ELENZA uses are the smallest currently known to man. Although Dr. Maxwell estimates the battery itself will have a 50-year cycle-life, it continued on page 26