"Investigating Brain MRI Findings in Children with Migraine

Purpose: migraine is a common headache associated with structural changes in brain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate brain MRI findings in children with migraine.

Methods: this study was cross-sectional. With respect to the exclusion and inclusion criteria, participants with headache and age between 5 and 15 years were evaluated with MRI and their headache type was diagnosed by the standard criteria. The findings of the MRI were interpreted by a radiologist who was blinded to the diagnoses.

Results: 81 individuals with the mean age of 9.56±3.25 years participated in the study. 66.7% of them were male. 20 patients with the mean age of 9.65±2.75 years were diagnosed with migraine without aura. Among the 54 male patients, 8 patients (14.8%) were diagnosed with migraine; and among the 27 female patients, 12 patients (44.4%) were diagnosed with migraine (RR: 1.5, 95%CI: 1.07-2.18, P=0.004). 10 migraine patients had abnormal MRI findings (50%), including 8 cases with high signal with matter lesion (3 patients in the frontal periventricular, 2 patients in semiovale centrum, 2 patients in periventricular at trigone area and 1 patient in periventricular at trigone area and semiovale centrum), and 2 cases with empty sella. The occurrence of the high signal white matter lesions was significantly greater in the migraine patients (RR: 3.91, 95% CI: 2.10-7.25, P=0.001).

Conclusions: the results revealed that the possibility of occurrence of the high signal white matter lesions in the brain MRI of children with migraine was significantly higher compared with other headache types.