Dynamic fluctuations in brain iron content during migraine attacks: insights from relaxometry and diffusion tensor imaging

There is evidence that iron metabolism may play a role in the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of migraine. Studies using (=1/ ) relaxometry, a common MRI-based iron mapping technique, have reported increased values in various brain structures of migraineurs, indicating iron accumulation compared to healthy controls. To investigate whether there are short-term changes in during a migraine attack. 26-year-old male patient diagnosed with episodic migraine with aura according to ICHD-3 criteria. 3 T, 64-channel head coil, for quantification of relaxation a multi-echo gradient echo (GRE) sequence with TE = 4.92, 9.84, 14.7, 19.6, 24.6 and 29.51 ms, TR = 35 ms, flip angle = 15°, and 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 mm isotropic resolution was used. Quantitative MRI, including relaxometry and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), was acquired from a migraine patient on 21 consecutive days, including migraine-free days and days with a migraine attack. Statistical analysis was performed using R, the Shapiro-Wilk test, the -test and Mann Whitney test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Kruskal-Wallis test, depending on the distribution of the data. -value