Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Via Olgettina 60, Milan 20132, Italy.
Radiology. 2013 Jul;268(1):170-80. doi: 10.1148/radiol.13122004. Epub 2013 Mar 26.
To explore the patterns of cortical thickness and cortical surface area abnormalities in patients with migraine (with the expectation of seeing reduced cortical thickness and surface area in regions subserving nociception and increased cortical thickness and surface area in regions involved in migraine pathogenesis) and to assess their correlation with clinical and radiologic manifestations of the disease.
Approval of the local ethical committee was obtained, as well as written informed consent from each participant. T2-weighted and three-dimensional T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of the brain were acquired in 63 migraineurs and 18 matched healthy control subjects. Cortical thickness and cortical surface area were estimated. By using a general linear model approach, a vertex-by-vertex statistical analysis (P < .01) was used to assess between-group comparisons (migraineurs vs control subjects, the aura effect, the effect of white matter hyperintensities [WMHs]) and the correlations between cortical thickness and surface area measurements and patients' clinical and radiologic characteristics.
Compared with control subjects, patients with migraine showed reduced cortical thickness and surface area in regions subserving pain processing (P < .01). These two metrics were increased in regions involved in executive functions and visual motion processing (P < .01). The anatomic overlap of cortical thickness and cortical surface area abnormalities was only minimal, with cortical surface area abnormalities being more pronounced and more widely distributed than cortical thickness abnormalities. Cortical thickness and surface area abnormalities were related to aura and WMHs (P < .01) but not to disease duration and attack frequency.
Cortical abnormalities occur in migraineurs and may represent the results of a balance between an intrinsic predisposition, as suggested by cortical surface area abnormalities, and disease-related processes, as indicated by cortical thickness abnormalities.
探讨偏头痛患者皮质厚度和皮质表面积异常的模式（预期观察到疼痛感知区域的皮质厚度和表面积减少，而偏头痛发病机制相关区域的皮质厚度和表面积增加），并评估其与疾病的临床和影像学表现的相关性。
获得了当地伦理委员会的批准，并获得了每位参与者的书面知情同意。对 63 名偏头痛患者和 18 名匹配的健康对照者进行了 T2 加权和三维 T1 加权磁共振脑成像。估计了皮质厚度和皮质表面积。通过使用一般线性模型方法，对顶点进行逐点统计分析（P<.01），以评估组间比较（偏头痛患者与对照者、先兆效应、脑白质高信号[WMHs]的影响）以及皮质厚度和表面积测量值与患者临床和影像学特征之间的相关性。
与对照者相比，偏头痛患者在疼痛处理相关区域的皮质厚度和表面积减少（P<.01）。这两个指标在执行功能和视觉运动处理相关区域增加（P<.01）。皮质厚度和皮质表面积异常的解剖重叠很小，皮质表面积异常比皮质厚度异常更明显且分布更广。皮质厚度和表面积异常与先兆和 WMHs 相关（P<.01），但与疾病持续时间和发作频率无关。
偏头痛患者存在皮质异常，可能代表内在易感性（如皮质表面积异常所示）和疾病相关过程（如皮质厚度异常所示）之间平衡的结果。
