The Functional Network of the Visual Cortex Is Altered in Migraine

Abstract

Migraine is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of headache, frequently accompanied by various reversible neurological disturbances. Some migraine patients experience visually triggered migraine headache, and most attacks of migraine with aura are associated with the disturbance of vision and photophobia, suggesting an abnormal neural activity in the visual cortex. Numerous studies have shown a large cortical hemodynamic response to visual stimulation and an altered intrinsic visual functional connectivity network in patients with migraine. In this interictal study, we applied a novel data-driven method with fMRI to identify the functional network in the visual cortex evoked by visual stimulation and investigated the effect of migraine on this network. We found that the distribution of the functional network along both the ventral and dorsal visual pathways differed between migraine patients and non-headache healthy control participants, providing evidence that the functional network was altered in migraine between headaches. The functional network was bilateral in the control participants but substantially lateralized in the migraine patients. The results also indicated different effects of colored lenses on the functional network for both participant groups.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of headache: Issues, best‐practices, and new directions, a narrative review

“…It is also important to consider whether the goal of potential collaborators in using fMRI to study headache is the development of new experimental methods or whether it is disease characterization. An example of new methods development is a recent paper demonstrating a novel method of identifying functional networks, dubbed functional areas of unitary pooled activity by the authors, in the visual cortex in patients with migraine versus healthy controls 163 . It is often desirable to demonstrate a new imaging method on a well‐characterized disease state such as migraine.…”

“…An example of new methods development is a recent paper demonstrating a novel method of identifying functional networks, dubbed functional areas of unitary pooled activity by the authors, in the visual cortex in patients with migraine versus healthy controls. 163 It is often desirable to demonstrate a new imaging method on a well-characterized disease state such as migraine. In contrast, an example of disease characterization is a recent task-based fMRI study of trigeminonociceptive stimulation with ammonia in patients with cluster headache, using established methods for brainstem imaging and an established ammonia stimulation protocol.…”

Functional connectivity of the language area in migraine: a preliminary classification model

“…The visual network has been strongly linked to migraine. Recently, Huang and Wilkins demonstrated that the distribution of the visual network was altered in migraine patients and demonstrated lateralization [61]. In another study, there was enhanced FC between the thalamus and several parts of the visual cortex, suggesting aberrant projections from the thalamus to the visual network [62].…”