Search

Amblyopia is the most frequent cause of monocular vision loss. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been used to improve several vision parameters of the amblyopic eye in adulthood. This study is relevant in order to evaluate TMS effects and to raise awareness of the need for further research. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a neuromodulation technique capable of changing cortical excitability. In the last decade, it has been used to improve visual parameters in amblyopic patients. The main goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the influence of TMS in the amblyopic eye, in the visual parameters of amblyopic patients. Searches were done in PubMed and Embase databases, and a combined search strategy was performed using the following Mesh, EMBASE, and keywords: 'Amblyopia', 'Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation', and 'theta burst stimulation'. This review included randomised controlled studies, descriptive cases, and clinical case studies with adult amblyopes. All articles that had any of the following characteristics were excluded: children or animal studies, reviews, pathologies other than amblyopia, and other techniques rather than repetitive TMS (rTMS), or Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS). A total of 42 articles were found, of which only four studies (46 amblyopes) meet the criteria above. Three of the articles found significant improvement after one session of continuous TBS (cTBS) in visual parameters like visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, suppressive imbalance, and stereoacuity. One study found a significant visual improvement with 10 Hz rTMS. Only one stimulation-related dropout was reported. The few existing studies found in this review seem to show that through the usage of high-frequency rTMS and cTBS, it is possible to re-balance the eyes of an adult amblyope. However, despite the promising results, further research with larger randomised double-blind studies is needed for a better understanding of this process.

Clinical Relevance: Continuous theta burst stimulation may be an important tool in the therapeutic management of amblyopia, when trying to correct the established neuronal imbalance. It is important to understand whether two sessions of continuous theta burst stimulation produce greater and longstanding changes in visual acuity and suppressive imbalance than one session of continuous theta burst stimulation., Background: We hypothesise that through the usage of continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) it is possible to change cortical excitability in a situation where visual impairment is present., Methods: We selected 22 adult amblyopes, 18 females and 4 males, with an age range of 20-59 years. They were randomised into two groups: group A with 10 amblyopes was submitted to one session of cTBS and group B with 12 amblyopes submitted to two sessions of cTBS. Visual acuity (VA) and suppressive imbalance (SI) were evaluated immediately before and after stimulation in both groups A and B. A follow-up was done in both groups., Results: For both group A and B, the VA improvements were significant after cTBS ( p  = 0.005 and p  = 0.003, respectively). Regarding SI, both group A and B had significant improvements after cTBS ( p  = 0.03 and p  = 0.005, respectively). Comparing groups, A and B no significant differences were found with regard to the results obtained both for VA ( p  = 0.72) and SI ( p  = 0.24). However, significant differences were found between group A and B with regard to the duration of stimulation effect for VA ( p  = 0.049) and SI ( p  = 0.03)., Conclusion: We conclude that two sessions of cTBS do not produce better results than one session of stimulation. However, it seems that two sessions of cTBS produce longstanding effects in VA and SI.

Purpose: Theta Burst Stimulation can influence adult neuro-visual response in imbalanced visual pathways, possibly by influencing cortical excitability. Our objective was to compare suppressive imbalance (SI) and visual acuity (VA) after applying repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation between groups of subjects with normal binocular vision, visual asymmetry, and amblyopia., Methods: Thirty-five volunteers between 19 and 51 years of age were split into three groups: 6 volunteers with asymmetric VA (group A); 19 amblyopes (group B); and 10 subjects with normal binocular vision (group C). VA and SI of all groups were evaluated before and after a single session of continuous Theta Burst Stimulation (cTBS) or placebo stimulation over the right occipital cortex., Results: In both groups A and B, we found a significant VA improvement in the non-dominant eye after cTBS (p = 0.04 and p = 0.01, respectively). In SI evaluation, group A and group B also revealed a significant improvement after the cTBS session (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01, respectively). Finally, in the group of volunteers with normal binocular vision and for placebo groups A and B, there were no significant differences in VA and SI after cTBS., Conclusions: Amblyopic and visually asymmetric individuals improved VA and SI of the non-dominant eye after cTBS when compared to baseline and to placebo stimulation. These enhancements were not found in the group of volunteers with normal binocular vision. We can therefore reasonably assume that cTBS may interfere with the visual system of subjects that present some kind of asymmetry, possibly by improving neuronal imbalances., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) it is possible to change cortical excitability of the visual cortex, and to influence binocular balance. The main goal of our study is to assess the effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation, specifically theta burst stimulation (TBS), in a group of amblyopic volunteers measuring several visual parameters: visual acuity, suppressive imbalance, and stereoacuity., Methods: Thirteen volunteers aged 19 to 24 years, randomly split in 2 groups, underwent 1 session of continuous TBS, stimulating the right occipital lobe. The first group with 8 volunteers was exposed to active stimulation with cTBS, and the other group with 5 volunteers was exposed to placebo stimulation., Results: Significant improvements in visual acuity, suppressive imbalance, and stereoacuity were found in the amblyopic eye after cTBS. The average value of amblyopia in visual acuity before stimulation was 0.32 ± 0.20 logMar and after cTBS was 0.19 ± 0.17 logMar. The mean value for the control group before placebo stimulation was 0.28 ± 0.17 and after placebo stimulation was 0.28 ± 0.16. The suppressive imbalance in the group of amblyope subjects stimulated before cTBS was 0.26 ± 0.18 and after was 0.12 ± 0.12; the suppressive imbalance of the control group before the placebo stimulation was 0.34 ± 0.37 and after was 0.32 ± 0.40., Conclusions: Visual acuity, suppressive imbalance, and stereoacuity had significant enhancements compared with baseline after cTBS over the right occipital lobe in an ambliopic population.