Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of perivascular space in migraine / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the distribution of Virchow-Robin spaces (VRS) in migraine by MRI,and to study the effects of the duration of the disease,the attack frequency and the migraine with or without aura on the number of VRS in order to provide imaging support for migraine diagnosis.Methods Fifty migraine patients were enrolled as migraine group and 50 healthy people as control group during January 2013 to December 2016 from Department of Neurology,the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University.The number of VRS in the fronto-parietal subcortical white matter,semioval central,and basal ganglia areas was calculated and compared between groups and within the group by performing a MRI scan of the same sequence,and the impact of the history of migraine,the attack frequency and the migraine with or without aura on the number of VRS was investigated.Results The VRS were found in 48 cases in the migraine group,accounting for 96％,significantly higher than in the control group (41 cases,accounting for 82％),the difference being statistically significant (x2 =5.00,P ＜ 0.05).In the migraine group,the sum of the number of VRS (13.00 (6.75,20.00)) was significantly higher than that of the control group (8.00 (5.00,12.00);Z=3.33,P＜ 0.01).In the migraine group the VRS numbers in the fronto-parietal subcortical white matter,semioval central and basal ganglia areas were 6.00(4.00,12.00),2.00(0.00,4.00)and 4.00 (2.00,6.00) respectively,while the numbers of VRS in the same areas of the control group were 0.00 (0.00,2.00),2.00 (0.75,4.00) and 4.00 (3.50,6.00).The total number of VRS in different areas was significantly different within the two groups (migraine group x2 =39.86,P ＜ 0.01;control group x2 =40.15,P ＜0.01).In the migraine group,the VRS was mainly located in fronto-parietal subcortical white matter,whereas in the control group the VRS was mainly distributed in the basal ganglia.The total number of VRS in the migraine with aura group (20.00 (14.50,26.00)) was more than that in the migraine without aura group (11.00 (6.00,20.00);Z =2.52,P =0.02).The numbers of VRS in the fronto-parietal subcortical white matter,semioval central and basal ganglia areas of the migraine with aura group were 12.00(9.00,14.00),2.00(2.00,6.00) and 4.00(2.50,7.50) respectively;The numbers of VRS in the same areas of the migraine without aura group were 6.00(4.00,10.00),1.00(0.00,4.00) and 4.00 (2.00,6.00) respectively;The numbers of VRS in different areas within the two groups were significantly different (with aura group x2 =16.31,P ＜0.01;without aura group x2 =29.48,P ＜0.01).There were statistically significant differences in the number of VRS among migraine without aura patients with different duration and frequency of episodes.Conclusions The incidence rate of perivascular space in migraine is high.VRS is mainly distributed in the fronto-parietal subcortical white matter,which may provide an imaging assistant basis for the diagnosis of migraine.Migraine with aura is more prone to VRS than those without aura.The disease course and the attack frequency have a certain impact on occurrence of VRS.