The team led by Dr. Norman Radtke conducted the retinal implant in the visually impaired patients.

The basic technique used in this experimental implant was the implantation of foetal retinal cells and their adjacent retinal pigment epithelium, responsible for nourishing the photoreceptor cells. This implant was done with the hope that the new cells would join forces with the existing retinal cells to improve the falling vision. Ten people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration were implanted with retinal cells. These retinal cells were taken from aborted foetuses.

Seven out of ten patients showed improvement in vision. Although the improvement was modest. But this method could be a slight hope for the people suffering from blindness in their old age due retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. These two illnesses lead to the irreversible destruction of the cells on the eye's retina, which receives light.

Dr Radtke said, "What we have learned will help us to refine this method and obtain further evidence that retinal transplants may be a viable therapy for retinal degenerative disease."  

The best part regarding this experimental implant was that there was no rejection despite the lack of a perfect immunological match between the transplant donors and recipients. The only problem regarding this method is ethical one. The retinal cells have to be taken from dead foetuses.