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Imaging of Migraine

  • Chapter
Pathophysiology of Headaches

Part of the book series: Headache ((HEAD))

Abstract

Over the last two decades, neuroimaging studies have led to a reappraisal of central mechanisms involved in migraine pathophysiology. Neuroimaging studies clearly support the view of migraine being a primary brain disorder with altered sensory processing even in pain-free periods. In the future, neuroimaging has the potential to provide a noninvasive biomarker that will potentially facilitate headache diagnosis and aid physicians in treatment decisions and treatment monitoring. However, findings from current studies are still partially inconsistent. In this chapter, the findings of neuroimaging studies in migraine are summarized according to brain anatomy separately for (peri)ictal and interictal phase where applicable. Figure 6.1 and Table 6.1 summarize brain areas where activation has been reported during attacks, respectively, which have been suggested to play a role outside of attacks. Findings in medication-overuse headache are briefly outlined at the end of the chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, Basel, 4031, Switzerland

    Michaela Andelova & Till Sprenger

  2. Division of Neurology, DKD Helios Klinik Wiesbaden, Aukammallee 33, Wiesbaden, 65191, Switzerland

    Michaela Andelova & Till Sprenger

  3. Center for Pain and the Brain, Boston Children’s, Massachusetts General and McLean Hospitals, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    David Borsook

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  1. Michaela Andelova
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  2. David Borsook
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  3. Till Sprenger
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Correspondence to Till Sprenger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Danish Headache Center Rigshospitalet and Glostrup Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark

    Messoud Ashina

  2. Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Pierangelo Geppetti

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Andelova, M., Borsook, D., Sprenger, T. (2015). Imaging of Migraine. In: Ashina, M., Geppetti, P. (eds) Pathophysiology of Headaches. Headache. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15621-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15621-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15620-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15621-7

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