Retinal Thickness Alterations in Patients with Migraine

Abstract

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.