Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Measurement of visual sensitivity in migraine: Validation of two scales and correlation with visual cortex activation
Brett Cucchiara1, Ritobrato Datta2, Geoffrey K Aguirre2
1Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA cucchiar@mail.med.upenn.edu.
Objective:
The objectives of this article are to compare interictal and ictal visual sensitivity between migraine and controls using two published questionnaires, and to correlate responses with a physiologic measure of visual cortex activation.
Methods:
Migraine with (MWA, n = 51) and without (MwoA, n = 45) aura and control individuals (n = 45) were enrolled and underwent BOLD fMRI with a visual stimulus. The visual discomfort score (VDS) assessed interictal and the migraine photophobia score (MPS) assessed ictal visual sensitivity.
Result:
VDS was significantly higher both in MWA and MwoA vs controls (both p = 0.0001). MPS was greater in MWA vs MwoA (p = 0.008). Ictal and interictal visual sensitivity strongly correlated in MWA (p = 0.004) but not MwoA patients (p = 0.12). BOLD activation in visual cortex was greater in MWA vs controls (2.7% vs 2.3%, p = 0.003) but similar between MwoA and controls. Increasing VDS was associated with greater BOLD signal change in MWA (p = 0.03) but not MwoA (p = 0.65) or controls (p = 0.53). MPS did not correlate with BOLD activation in either group.
Conclusion:
Increased interictal visual sensitivity is present both in MWA and MwoA. However, the correlation with ictal visual sensitivity and with cortical hyper-responsivity varies between MWA and MwoA, suggesting underlying differences between groups.
