Detection of Changes in the Periaqueductal Gray Matter of Patients with Episodic Migraine Using Quantitative Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging: Preliminary Findings

Introduction: The periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) is considered to play an important role in generating migraine, but findings from imaging studies remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated whether diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) can detect changes in the PAG of migraine patients.

Methods: We obtained source images for DKI from 20 patients with episodic migraine and 20 healthy controls using a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Mean kurtosis (MK), fractional anisotropy (FA), and mean diffusivity (MD) maps were generated, and the values of the PAG and other deep gray and white matter structures were automatically measured using an atlas-based region-of-interest analysis. The metrics of these structures were compared between the patients and controls.

Results: The MK and MD values of the PAG were significantly increased in the migraine patients compared with the controls (p < 0.05). The FA values were not significantly different. There were no significant differences in the metrics of the other structures between the patients and controls. The MK values of the PAG were significantly positively correlated with both age and the untreated period in the patient group under univariate analysis (r = 0.53 and 0.56, respectively; p < 0.05) but not multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: DKI detected significant increases in the MK and MD values of the PAG in patients with migraine, which suggests that structural changes in the PAG are associated with the pathophysiological mechanisms of migraine.