Changes in the perivascular spaces, here is the important evidence that could help solve the frustrating and ongoing mystery of migraine.
While the link to migraine or its role is yet to be established, this finding may represent an unexplored avenue for future research. Using ultra-high-resolution MRI, researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles have found that the perivascular spaces – fluid-filled spaces around blood vessels in the brain – are unusually enlarged in patients suffering from both chronic and chronic migraines. episodic.
The discovery was presented at the 108th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. “In people with migraine, significant changes occur in the perivascular spaces of a brain region called the centrum semiovale ,” explains physician Wilson Xu. These changes have never been reported before.
For the study, they recruited 20 patients between the ages of 25 and 60 with migraine: 10 with chronic migraine without aura and 10 with episodic migraine. In addition, 5 healthy patients who did not suffer from migraine were included as a control group. The team excluded patients with cognitive impairment, claustrophobia, brain tumors or who had previously undergone brain surgery. They then conducted the scans using ultra-high-field MRI with a 7 tesla magnet (most hospital scanners only have up to 3 magnets). Using scans at this high definition helped show much smaller changes that occur in brain tissue after a migraine.
The scans revealed that the perivascular spaces of the migraine patients were significantly wider than in the control group.
- Ultra-high-res MRI Reveals Migraine Brain Changes. (press.rsna.org)
