Somatosensory Cortex Thickening Seen in Brains of Migraine Patients

Cortical and subcortical changes following sphenopalatine ganglion blocks in chronic migraine with medication overuse headache: a preliminary longitudinal study

“…A significant body of literature also supports a relationship between migraine and various cortical components. There appears to be a strong link between migraine status and structure of the somatosensory cortex, with multiple studies reporting a thickening of S1 in migraineurs [17,18]. While evidence for a relationship between migraine and brain structure is less strong in other areas, there is reasonable evidence that two additional sites are involved in the migraine brain.…”

“…While several studies hint at potential relationships between brain structures and various aspects of migraine (such as severity and frequency) [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], little is known about the potential effects of SPG treatment on brain structure and function. Recently, our lab conducted a pilot longitudinal fMRI study on the use of repetitive SPG blockades for chronic migraine with medication overuse headache (CM w/MOH) , which demonstrated improved overall central executive network connectivity and intra-network connectivity within salience network [21].…”

“…Specifically, we examined the effect of SPG blockade on brain volumetric changes in cortical and subcortical regions, pre and post treatment in women with CM w/MOH . Based on prior literature [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], we identified our regions of interest as following: amygdala, hippocampus, basal ganglia, somatosensory cortex, temporal cortex and occipital cortex.…”