(NewsNation) — Researchers have successfully restored partial vision to people with a common eye disease using a prosthetic retinal implant. The breakthrough, led by Stanford Medicine, could mark a new era in treatments for severe vision loss.

The device, called PRIMA, was tested across 17 hospitals in Europe. After 12 months, 26 of 32 patients regained central vision, and many were even able to read again. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“All previous attempts to provide vision with prosthetic devices resulted in basically light sensitivity, not really form vision,” said Daniel Palanker, PhD, a professor of ophthalmology and a co-senior author of the paper. “We are the first to provide form vision.”

How the device works

PRIMA is a two-part device tha

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