The potential application of transcranial magnetic stimulation in ophthalmology: a brief perspective

Abstract

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), while employed in both cognitive investigations and evaluated as a potential therapeutic technique for several conditions, is not widely used in ophthalmology. As a technique, one of the advantages of TMS is that it can create a “virtual lesion”, or temporary disruption of the functioning of a brain area, to facilitate investigation of the processes that the disrupted area may be involved in. In ophthalmology, higher association cortex is associated with visual cognition and control of eye movements, processes which could further be investigated using TMS experiments. This paper aims to provide a perspective of how TMS could be more broadly applied in ophthalmology.