Structural brain characteristics of epilepsy patients with comorbid migraine without aura

Migraine is a common bi-directional comorbidity of epilepsy, indicating potential complex interactions between the two conditions. However, no previous studies have used brain morphology analysis to assess possible interactions between epilepsy and migraine. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), surface-based morphometry (SBM), and structural covariance networks (SCNs) can be used to detect morphological changes with high accuracy. We recruited 30 individuals with epilepsy and comorbid migraine without aura (EM), along with 20 healthy controls (HC) and 30 epilepsy controls (EC) without migraine. We used VBM, SBM, and SCN analysis to compare differences in gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and global level and local level graph theory indexes between the EM, EC, and HC groups to investigate structural brain changes in the EM patients. VBM analysis showed that the EM group had gray matter atrophy in the right temporal pole compared with the HC group (p < 0.001, false discovery rate correction [FDR]). Furthermore, the headache duration in the EM group was negatively correlated with the gray matter volume of the right temporal pole (p < 0.05). SBM analysis showed cortical atrophy in the left insula, left posterior cingulate gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus in the EM compared with the HC group (p < 0.001, family wise error correction). We found a positive correlation between headache frequency and the cortical thickness of the left middle temporal gyrus (p < 0.05). SCN analysis revealed no differences in global parameters between the three groups. The area under the curve (AUC) of the nodal betweenness centrality in the right postcentral gyrus was lower in the EM group compared with the HC group (p < 0.001, FDR correction), and the AUC of the nodal degree in the right fusiform gyrus was lower in the EM group compared with the EC group (p < 0.001, FDR correction). We found clear differences in brain structure in the EM patients compared with the HC group. Accordingly, migraine episodes may influence brain structure in epilepsy patients. Conversely, abnormal brain structure may be an important factor in the development of epilepsy with comorbid migraine without aura. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of brain structure in individuals with epilepsy and comorbid migraine without aura.