Are Retinal and Peripapillary Blood Flows Affected during Migraine Attack?

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Neurology
• Vascular Biology

Background:

• Migraine pathophysiology involves complex vascular mechanisms.
• Understanding ocular blood flow during migraine attacks is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare retinal and peripapillary blood flow parameters in migraineurs during an attack versus healthy controls.
• To investigate the impact of acute migraine attacks on ocular vasculature using OCTA.

Main Methods:

• Prospective clinical study comparing 26 migraineurs and 24 healthy controls.
• Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) used to assess vascular density in retinal and peripapillary regions.
• Measurements included superficial and deep capillary plexuses, optic nerve head, and choroid.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in vascular density were observed in the superficial retinal capillary plexus between groups (p > 0.05).
• Similar vascular densities were found in the deep capillary plexus, except for the deep superior area (p = 0.05).
• Peripapillary and macular flow densities, as well as macular thickness, showed no significant differences between migraineurs and controls (p > 0.05).

Conclusions:

• An acute migraine attack does not appear to significantly affect retinal or peripapillary blood flow.
• OCTA findings suggest ocular vasculature remains stable during migraine attacks.