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Migraine understood as a sensory threshold disease.
Kuan-Po Peng1,2, Arne May1
1Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Pain
|June 21, 2019
Summary
Migraine involves sensory changes beyond headache, with altered sensory thresholds fluctuating throughout the migraine cycle. These periodic dysregulations, influenced by various factors, highlight migraine as a brain-based sensory disorder.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Sensory Processing
- Pain Research
Background:
- Migraine presents with diverse sensory symptoms beyond headache, including photophobia and allodynia.
- These symptoms suggest altered sensory input sensitivity in migraineurs.
- Quantifying sensory threshold changes offers a measurable approach to understanding migraine's sensory aspects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review changes in sensory thresholds in patients experiencing migraine.
- To investigate how sensory sensitivity varies across different phases of the migraine cycle.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search of PubMed up to June 2018.
- Inclusion of peer-reviewed articles on sensory threshold, phobia, or sensitivity changes in migraine patients.
- Analysis of findings considering sensory modality and measurement location.
Main Results:
- Migraineurs generally exhibit lower sensory thresholds than healthy individuals.
- Sensory thresholds typically decrease during the headache (ictal) phase and increase post-headache.
- Threshold variations are influenced by sensory modality (mechanical, thermal, nociceptive) and measurement site (trigeminal, somatic).
Conclusions:
- Migraine may be characterized as a periodic sensory dysregulation originating in the brain.
- The hypothalamo-thalamo-brainstem network is implicated in driving these cyclic threshold changes.
- Further harmonized studies are needed to address interstudy discrepancies and focus on distinct migraine phases.
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