• Nikoletta Szabó, Zsigmond Tamás Kincses, Arpád Párdutz, János Tajti, Délia Szok, Bernadett Tuka, András Király, Magor Babos, Erika Vörös, Giuseppe Bomboi, Francesco Orzi, and László Vécsei.
• Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
• Pain. 2012 Mar 1;153(3):651-6.

AbstractMigraine is a common and disabling neurological disease. The pathomechanism that underlies the disorder is not entirely understood, and reliable biomarkers are missing. In the current analysis we looked for microstructural alterations of the brain white matter in migraine patients by means of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The measurements were carried out with a novel approach based on fine-tuned nonlinear registration and nonparametric permutation test in an alignment-invariant tract representation (Tract-Based Spatial Statistics). We found reduced fractional anisotropy in the right frontal white matter cluster of migraine patients. In the same region we also found increased mean diffusivity and increased radial diffusivity. The probabilistic tractography showed connection of this cluster to other parts of the pain network (orbitofrontal cortex, insula, thalamus, dorsal midbrain). We speculate that these findings reflect maladaptive plastic changes or white matter disintegration.Copyright © 2011 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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