Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate potential changes in brain morphology (cortical thickness and cortical/subcortical volume) accompanying a series of sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) blockade treatments in chronic migraine with medication overuse headaches (CM w/MOH). Background: Local anesthetization of the SPG via intranasal application is used for the treatment for multiple types of headache disorders, including CM. Our previous longitudinal fMRI study revealed improved network connectivity after such treatment. However, the impact of SPG blocks on cortical, subcortical gray matter volume and cortical thickness has yet to be assessed. Methods: Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cortical/subcortical volume were measured in 12 chronic migraine patients before and after a series of 12 SPG blocks administered over a 6-week period (2 per week). The average time between MRI assessments was 6 weeks. Targeted, within-subjects t-tests comparing pre-treatment and post-treatment values in specific apriori brain regions of interest, including the hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia, somatosensory cortex, temporal cortex and occipital cortex, were used to estimate the impact of repetitive SPG blocks treatment on brain morphology in CM w/MOH. Results: Compared to baseline values, the number of moderate/severe headache days per month, HIT-6, PHQ-9 scores and allodynia scores were all significantly improved at the end of treatment. Analysis of MRI data revealed that the volume of the right hippocampus and the right palladium significantly decreased following SPG block treatment, while the volume of the left nucleus accumbens significantly increased following treatment. Cortical thickness in the left temporal pole and left lateral occipito-temporal gyrus significantly decreased following SPG block treatment. Conclusion: Our results suggest SPG block treatment is associated with significant symptom improvement as well as significant structural brain changes in regions known to be associated with migraine and chronic pain processing in CM w/MOH .
Introduction and Hypothesis:
Epidemiological studies have shown that migraine with aura (MA) is an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke. We assessed the hypothesis that migraine with aura is associated with specific ischemic stroke subtypes in the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) study.
Methods:
We included 12844 participants among this ongoing prospective cohort of ARIC. All participants completed an in-person headache questionnaire: headaches are classified as MA, migraine without aura, or non-migraine headaches. All stroke diagnoses are based on computer-derived diagnosis and physician medical record review, with differences adjudicated by a second physician reviewer. Classification required evidence of sudden or rapid onset of neurological symptoms lasting ≥24 hours. Strokes were further classified according to etiologic subtype as thrombotic brain infarction, lacunar infarction, and cardioembolic stroke.
Results:
At the third ARIC study visit, 12.7% (1633) of participants had migraine and 8.5% (1093) had non-migraine headaches. 29% (472) of participants among migraineurs had MA. A total of 817 ischemic strokes occurred from1987-1989 to 2012, of which 51% (417) were thrombotic, 27% (224) were cardioembolic, and 22% (176) were lacunar stroke. Participants with MA had an increased odd of ischemic stroke, compared with participants with migraine without aura (unadjusted OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.6-3.6, P<0.0001). MA had a stronger association with cardioembolic stroke (OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.4-8.0, p=0.009), compared with thrombotic stroke (OR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.2-3.4, p=0.01). There was no significant association between MA and lacunar stroke.
Conclusions:
Results from this prospective cohort are consistent with previous studies demonstrating an association between MA and ischemic stroke. Further, we report a stronger and significant association with the cardioembolic stroke subtype, with a significant but smaller association with thrombotic strokes. Etiology of the observed association is currently being evaluated in this population.
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