Despite their occurrence among several people, several aspects of migraines are a mystery. Scientists are now using MRI scans to uncover them.
What do MRI scans of migraines reveal?
Scientists are trying to better understand migraines and their effect on the human brain. Researchers examined high-resolution MRI scans from 10 participants diagnosed with chronic migraines between the ages of 25 and 60. While analyzing, they noted that people with episodic or chronic migraines had enlarged perivascular spaces when compared to those without. Researchers are unsure about the exact relationship between perivascular spaces and the condition. However, they believe it involves blood flow in the brain.
“Seeing this kind of relationship between increased amounts of (perivascular spaces) in a certain region of the white matter in the brain, we think that there might be some sort of connection between migraine and this waste clearance system,” stated Wilson Xu. Xu is a co-author of the study and a doctoral candidate at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. “We think that when a migraine happens, it could cause these changes, and these changes could lead to some of the symptoms and things that we experience when we have a migraine,” added Wu.
More on the condition
As per a recent study, headaches affect at least 15 percent of the world’s population every day. Among them, half of them suffer from migraines, making it one of the most disabling conditions. Common symptoms of the condition include nausea, severe pain, cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue. While there is very little known about a cure, experts have identified potential triggers and believe it can be genetic.
“There are all kinds of stuff happening in the perivascular space. The question is this a cause or a consequence (of migraines.),” stated Dr. Andrew Charles. Dr. Charles is a neurologist and the director of the Goldberg Migraine Program at UCLA. He lauded the approach and stated it is “going to be helpful and potentially revealing”.