A small camera mounted on spectacles and connected to the optical nerve could restore the sight of thousands of people suffering from deterioration of the retina, European scientists said on Monday.

The medical advance has the potential to help over 300,000 Europeans whose sight is impaired as the thin layer of tissue which lines the eye and processes images deteriorates, Belgian Professor Claude Veraart told a news conference.

“We have implanted (the device) in two patients so far,” Veraart from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve near Brussels said.

A camera mounted on glasses sends images to an electronic device implanted behind the eye and stimulates the optic nerve, which passes the information to the brain.

The technology could also help people with the retinal disease, macular degeneration, which can lead to loss of fine detail sight and which is one of the leading causes of visual impairment in the United States.

Based on the price of hearing devices known as Cochlear implants, which also involve inserting components in the head, the new technology will cost about 20,000 euros ($26,120), Veraart said.

Fifteen independent teams around the world are working on similar technology but the Belgian project, which coordinates the pan-European effort involving researchers in France and Germany, has the best results, he added.

EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said the device would be sold on the market from 2008-10.

“This is a very good example where European technology can lead worldwide,” she said, adding that the cost of the equipment would fall over time.

The EU executive Commission, which is spending 3.6 billion euros on information and communication technology projects between 2002 and 2006, has granted 2.79 million euros toward research into treating visual impairment.

It wants to increase research spending across the 25-nation bloc to revive stagnant economic growth and stop the brain drain of top scientists to the United States.