Retinal Thickness Alterations in Patients with Migraine

• Published in: Türk nöroloji dergisi Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 69 - 74
• Main Authors: Yurtoğulları, Şükran, Erbahçeci Timur, İnci Elif, Eyidoğan, Demet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Türk Nöroloji Derneği 01-03-2021; Galenos Yayinevi
• Subjects: macular thickness; migraine; optical coherence tomography; retinal nerve fiber layer; Tıp; Ankara; Türkiye; migraine; optical coherence tomography; optik koherens tomografi; Macular thickness; Makula kalınlığı; retina sinir lifi tabakası; retinal nerve fiber layer; migre
• ISSN: 1301-062X; 1309-2545; 1309-2545
• DOI: 10.4274/tnd.2020.06791

Objective: To investigate the alterations in macula, ganglion cell complex (GCC), ganglion cell layer (GCL), macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer
(pRNFL) thickness values in patients with migraine and to elicit the correlation between thickness and clinical characteristics of migraine disease.
Materials and Methods: One hundred sixty-two eyes of 81 patients with migraine (76 eyes of 38 patients with aura and 86 eyes of 43 patients without aura)
and 90 eyes of 45 healthy volunteers as the control group were recruited in the study. Macula, GCL, GCC, and RNFL thickness values were measured using optical
coherence tomography (OCT).
Results: The mean ages of the aura (+) group, aura (-) group, and the control group were 32.5±7.7, 35.2±7.9, and 33.7±7.7 years, respectively (p=0.751). The
mean follow-up time of patients with migraine were 6.3±3.1 years. The central macular thickness, inner inferior macular thickness, central quadrant of macular
RNFL thickness, mean of outer segment GCL thickness, inner inferior and temporal, mean of outer nasal quadrant GCL thickness measurements were found to be
thinner in both aura (+) and aura (-) patients with migraine when compared with healthy subjects (p<0.01, p=0.01, p<0.01, p<0.01, p=0.04, p=0.04, p<0.01
and p=0.01, respectively).
Conclusion: Although a specific OCT marker for migraine cannot be detected, alterations of pRNFL, GCC, GCL, macular RFNL and macular thickness
obtained with OCT may contribute to the understanding of migraine pathophysiology and aid in the assessment of treatment effectiveness.