Title :
An Artificial Nano-Drainage Implant (ANDI) for Glaucoma Treatment
Author :
Pan, Tingrui ; Brown, J. David ; Ziaie, Babak
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Ophthalmology, Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis, MN
fDate :
Aug. 30 2006-Sept. 3 2006
Abstract :
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. The loss of sight in glaucoma is due to the permanent optic nerve damage which is the result of a chronic elevated intraocular pressure. In this paper, we report a completely new concept to treat glaucoma using a nano-drainage device fabricated through MEMS and nanofabrication technologies. This involves replacing the functionality of diseased drainage pathway for aqueous humor outflow (i.e., trabecular meshwork). By enhancing aqueous humor outflow, the artificial drainage implant will lead to a decrease in the intraocular pressure and a halt in the progression of glaucoma
Keywords :
artificial organs; bioMEMS; diseases; eye; nanobiotechnology; patient treatment; MEMS technologies; aqueous humor outflow; artificial nanodrainage implant; glaucoma treatment; intraocular pressure; irreversible blindness; nanofabrication technologies; permanent optic nerve damage; Biomedical optical imaging; Biomembranes; Blindness; Implants; Micromechanical devices; Nanofabrication; Nanoporous materials; Nanoscale devices; Polymers; Proteins; Aqueous humor; MEMS; artificial drainage; biofluidics; glaucoma; nanofabrication;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006. EMBS '06. 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
New York, NY
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-0032-5
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2006.260147
