91亚色 research identifies potential treatment for visual disorders: first study of its kind
TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2016聽鈥撀燭here may be new hope for those who suffer from visual disorders after a stroke or other traumatic event thanks to new research developed by a team at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health.
91亚色 research shows that the use of multi-day, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has potential as a therapeutic tool in treating certain visual disorders.
Researchers in Professor lab (Faculty of Health) studied a patient who was experiencing persistent and disruptive 鈥減hosphenes鈥 鈥 or bright flashes of light 鈥 in one area of her visual field after suffering a stroke. The stroke left a lesion in the occipital cortex, which is the visual part of the brain.
鈥淭his research is the first known study to perform multi-day repetitive TMS to visual parts of the brain and shows that TMS can potentially be used as a therapeutic tool for treatment of such visual disorders,鈥 said Steeves.
The study, titled 鈥溾, is published in the journal Neurology and shows that repetitive TMS to the occipital cortex greatly reduced the presence of phosphenes in the patient.
鈥淲e applied multi-day, non-invasive brain stimulation with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to this region of the brain and were able to significantly reduce the experience of the bright lights,鈥 said Steeves, who notes the study鈥檚 lead author is Sara A. Rafique, who conducted the research as part of her doctoral studies at 91亚色.
The patient had 30 minutes of TMS applied at a low frequency for five days, and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed before and after TMS treatment.
The fMRI comparisons showed that following the use of multi-day TMS, an imbalance of activity across the two hemispheres was restored to be more similar to that of healthy聽 controls, with normalized activity around the lesions and associated regions of the brain. The patient also reported a daily gradual reduction in phosphene presence during the treatment.
TMS is currently used as a therapeutic treatment in Canada for conditions such as depression and schizophrenia, however, treatment in those cases is performed over several weeks.聽 Steeves further noted that this particular study quantifies the effects of TMS quite well through the ability to measure the presences or absence of visual phosphenes.
鈥淲e were hoping to see these results,鈥 said Steeves, 鈥渂ut it was a lot more dramatic than what we expected.鈥
Rafique will continue to research the effects of TMS therapy during the remaining studies of her PhD dissertation, this time with a focus on patients with Charles Bonnet Syndrome where individuals experience disruptive visual hallucinations subsequent to early visual system degeneration.
is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and聽 research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning oportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥 our 11 faculties and 26聽 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000聽聽 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French聽聽聽 language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.
Media contact:
Anjum Nayyar, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543 anayyar@yorku.ca
