Retinal Neurovascular Structural Changes in Optical Coherence Tomography and the Relationship between These Changes and White Matter Hyperintensities in Patients with Migraine

Optical coherence tomography findings in primary headache disorders: is pain duration a clinical correlate?

OBJECTIVE

Ganglion cell layer thickness (GCLT) may be used as a potential marker for central neural changes. We compared GCLT by using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in patients with primary headache disorders and healthy controls. We seek whether there was any difference between the headache groups and whether any clinical parameters correlated to GCLT.

METHODS

Fifty-three primary headache patients, 11 age and sex-matched healthy subjects were included in this cross-sectional study after power analysis. All subjects underwent SD-OCT. The duration of disorder, headache frequency, severity, duration of pain, presence of ocular pain, and accompanying symptoms have been collected.

RESULTS

Mean GCLT of the headache group was 15.7 ± 3.8 µm (mean ± standard deviation), and the control group was 17.5 ± 2.4. The difference was not statistically significant. When we compared the controls, migraine and tension-type headache patients' GCLT values, we found a significant difference (ANOVA, p = 0.001). Migraine patients had thinner GCLT compared to all non-migraine headache patients (p = 0.01). Intraocular pressure values of migraine patients and non-migraine patients were not statistically significantly different (p = 0.13). The only clinical parameter that correlated with GCLT was pain duration (r = -0.43 and p = 0.01). The patients with white matter lesions had thinner GCLT (p = 0.046).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that not long-term suffering from pain but migraine pathophysiology itself seems to affect neuroretinal tissue. Pain duration was moderately and inversely correlated to GCLT, meaning that the longer the headache, the thinner the ganglion cell layer is.

Using optical coherence tomography and optical coherence tomography angiography to delineate neurovascular homeostasis in migraine: a review

Migraine is one of the world's most debilitating disorders, and it has recently been shown that changes in the retina can be a potential biomarker for the disease. These changes can be detected by optical coherence tomography (OCT), which measures retinal thickness, and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), which measures vessel density. We searched the databases Google Scholar, ProQuest, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies in English using OCT and OCTA in migraineurs, using the search terms "optical coherence tomography," "OCT," "optical coherence tomography angiography," "OCTA" and "migraine." We found 73 primary studies, 11 reviews, and 8 meta-analyses pertaining to OCT and OCTA findings in migraineurs. They showed that migraineurs had reduced retinal thickness (via OCT), retinal vessel density, and greater foveal avascular zone area (via OCTA) than controls. OCTA changes reflect a perfusion compromise occurring in migraineurs as opposed to in healthy controls. OCT and OCTA deficits were worse in migraine-with-aura and chronic migraine than in migraine-without-aura and episodic migraine. Certain areas of the eye, such as the fovea, may be more vulnerable to these perfusion changes than other parts. Direct comparison between study findings is difficult because of the heterogeneity between the studies in terms of both methodology and analysis. Moreover, as almost all case-control studies were cross-sectional, more longitudinal cohort studies are needed to determine cause and effect between migraine pathophysiology and OCT/OCTA findings. Current evidence suggests both OCT and OCTA may serve as retinal markers for migraineurs, and further research in this field will hopefully enable us to better understand the vascular changes associated with migraine, perhaps also providing a new diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker.

Retinal neural tissue and vascular calibres in migraine: the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Eye Study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the possible effects of migraine on retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL), ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL), macular thickness and retinal arteriolar and venular diameters (CRAE, CRVE) in a population-based birth cohort.

METHODS

375 migraineurs and 1489 healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional cohort study. RNFL, GC-IPL and macular thickness parameters were measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), and vascular parameters were measured from fundus photographs. Migraine was determined by a questionnaire and specific features were selected as covariates (gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, refraction and diabetes).

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences between healthy controls and migraineurs in average RNFL (p = 0.123), macular (p = 0.488) or GC-IPL (p = 0.437) thickness. Migraine did not have a significant effect on any of the macular or GC-IPL subfields. For RNFL subfields, only temporal inferior was borderline significantly increased in migraineurs (p = 0.039) in adjusted results. No statistically significant differences were found between study groups on retinal vascular calibres CRAE (p = 0.879), CRVE (p = 0.145) or AVR (p = 0.259). GC-IPL thickness was found to be positively correlated with CRAE and CRVE in both study groups as GC-IPL thickness increased together with the increase in CRAE and CRVE (p-trend < 0.001 in both), and a similar trend was detected with central macular subfield thickness and systolic (p-trend < 0.001) and diastolic (p-trend = 0.010) blood pressure, but only in the control group.

CONCLUSION

There were no remarkable differences between migraineurs and healthy controls in retinal vascular or structural parameters in our study.

Retina and microvascular alterations in migraine: a systemic review and meta-analysis

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the retina and microvascular alterations with optical coherence tomography (OCT) or optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in patients with migraine with aura (MA) and migraine without aura (MO).

Methods

PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched to find relevant literature on patients with MA or MO using OCT/OCTA devices. The eligible data were analyzed by Stata Software (version 15.0).

Results

There were 16 studies identified, involving 379 eyes with MA, 583 eyes with MO, and 658 eyes of healthy controls. The thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) of patients with MA decreased significantly in most regions. The foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area and perimeter in MA patients significantly enlarged, while the perfusion density (PD) in the macular deep capillary plexus (mDCP) significantly decreased in the whole image and its subregions except for the fovea, with the PD in radial peripapillary capillary (RPC) decreasing inside the disk. Patients with MO demonstrated a significantly decreased thickness of pRNFL in most regions, and the FAZ parameters were significantly enlarged. No statistical significance was observed in the retina and microvascular features of patients with MA and MO.

Conclusion

The eyes affected by MA and MO demonstrated significantly reduced thickness of pRNFL and enlarged FAZ. Patients with MA showed retinal microvascular impairments, including a decreased PD in mDCP. The OCT and OCTA could detect membrane morphology and circulation status in migraine and might provide the basis for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with migraine.

Systematic review registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, CRD42023397653.

Abnormalities of Retinal Structure and Microvasculature are Associated with Cerebral White Matter Hyperintensities

PURPOSE

While retinal microvasculature represents cerebral small vessels, the retinal nerve fiber layer is the extended white matter of the brain. We aimed to investigate the correlation between changes in retina and white matter hyperintensities (WMH).

METHODS

64 candidates with WMH received the optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) examination. WMH were divided into mild or moderate/severe groups according to the Fazekas score. After imaging superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP), we revealed the microvascular density parameters (vascular perfusion density (VPD), vascular length density (VLD), and fovea avascular zone area (FAZ-A)) and morphological parameters (vessel diameter index (VDI), fractal dimension (FD), and vessel tortuosity (VT)). The software algorithm measured the thickness of the peripapillary retina nerve fiber layer (PRNFL).

RESULTS

32 were classified as having mild WMH and 32 were moderate/severe. The Median (interquartile range) ages of the two groups were 58 (54-64) and 61 (57-67) years, respectively. A decrease of FD, VPD and VLD in either SCP or DCP appeared with an increased risk of moderate/severe WMH. Although changes of capillary plexus were not associated with PWMH, decreased FD, VPD, VLD and FAZ-A in either SCP or DCP was associated with an increased risk of moderate/severe DWMH. Participants with moderate/severe WMH demonstrated reduced PRNFL thickness, particularly in the DWMH, compared with mild WMH.

CONCLUSIONS

Abnormalities of retinal microvascular density, morphological parameters, and PRNFL thickness are correlated with the incidence of moderate/severe WMH, particularly the DWMH, suggesting that arteriosclerosis and hypoperfusion are the causes of DWMH.