FollowA meta-analysis finding conducted by team of researchers of a headache center says migraine can also be linked to the structural changes in the brain of human beings. A published report of the team in Neurology reads brain volume changes and clinically-silent infarct-like abnormalities are correlated with migraine.
The neurological disorder migraine causes results in throbbing headache. It is usually on one side of the brain.
Messoud Ashina, MD, PhD, of the Danish Headache Center at Glostrup Hospital in Copenhagen, and colleagues writes, “White matter brain lesions appeared 68% more often in migraineurs with aura than in those without migraine; a trend for 34% elevated risk of white matter in migraine patients without aura didn’t reach significance.”
However, cautioned the researcher team, as of now it is not perfectly known how these changes arise and whether any clinical significance can be related to it. In fact, it has been known for years and decades that migraine is a benign disorder without having any long-term consequences for the brain.
It is learned the MRI imaging used for excluding the secondary causes of the headache often turns such abnormalities and it worries the neurologists as well as the patients.
The group recommended, “Patients with white matter abnormalities can be reassured… Patients with infarct-like lesions should be evaluated for stroke risk factors. Volumetric MRI remains a research tool.”
The meta-analysis of the team included thirteen clinic-based studies and 6 population-based studies that looked for MRI abnormalities between 1989 and 2013 in migraineurs.
The study was backed by Novo Nordisk Foundation and Lundbeck Foundation.
Migraine is usually associated with photophobia. The patients usually develop increased sensitivity to flashing of lights. Many patients have complained that such trigger factors worst the pain. Unfortunately, although this disease is known for many decades, there is no permanent treatment found for the same.
Migraine has been considered chronic disease for the same reason. There is no perfectly known cause for the migraine headache. However most commonly known triggers of migraine disorder are women on oral contraceptives, oily dietary habits, depression.
Since the new study has found relation of migraine to change in the structure of the brain, now this can be prove helpful to those hundreds of researchers who have been trying to find a permanent cure for sufferers of migraine.
