Introduction:
Migraine, a neurological disorder that causes severe headaches, is often associated with vomiting and nausea. Migraine’s close association with visual disturbances such as photophobia, aura and visual snow is something that many people find fascinating. These visual symptoms could be caused by abnormal brain processing, such as changes in visual evoked fields (VEF). Recent research has suggested this possibility. This paper will examine VEF changes in migraine sufferers and identify clinical implications.
Methodology:
For this study, 30 people were recruited. This included 15 patients suffering from migraine and 15 healthy control subjects. VEF recordings were performed by all participants using a 128 channel electroencephalogram system (EEG). Participants viewed 120 seconds of a checkerboard design at 2 Hz. The VEF recording was done while they viewed it. After the VEF waveform had been recorded, it was processed with standard EEG signal processing techniques including time-frequency and event-related specular perturbation (ERSP) to analyze the data.
Results:
This study showed significant differences between the VEF waveforms of migraine patients and healthy controls. The VEF waveforms of migraine patients showed a significant reduction in amplitude and a delayed latency for the P100 component. This is believed to be due to processing in the primary vision cortex. Time-frequency analysis revealed that migraine patients had significant differences in power in the VEF waveform’s gamma frequency band (30 to 80 Hz) compared with healthy controls. This suggests abnormal processing of high-frequency visual information.
Discussion:
These findings provide additional evidence that migraine patients have abnormal visual processing, especially in the VEF Waveform. VEF waves have a reduced amplitude, and a delayed latency, which could indicate dysfunction at the beginning stages of visual processing. This may explain migraine symptoms like aura or photophobia. Alternate processing of higher-order information may also be indicated by the gamma frequency changes. This could contribute to cognitive symptoms such as memory and attention problems. VEF recordings have clinical significance because they may prove to be an effective tool in monitoring and diagnosing migraine patients.
Conclusion:
This study provides evidence that there are changes in VEF waveforms in migraine patients. These include reduced amplitude, delayed lancy and altered gamma frequencies power. This suggests that migraine sufferers may have abnormal visual processing, which could be contributing to their cognitive and visual symptoms. VEF recordings are being used clinically to diagnose and treat migraine.