According to the investigators of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Individuals suffering from chronic migraine showed different and unique graphs with cortical thickness as compared to the controls. The two primary goals behind this analysis were; to recognise cortical thickness regions that distinguish chronic migraine (CM) from controls, to evaluate group diversity in interregional cortical thickness covariance, and to define group differences in relationships among clinical variables and cortical thickness.

A total of 30 matched healthy controls and 30 CM patients were selected. All the patients fulfilled the standardised and self-administered questionnaires evaluating headache-associated clinical characteristics and common psychological comorbidities. A whole-brain cortical thickness analysis was done. A 3T MRI was used to measure T1-weighted brain images and associations between all brain regions to estimate interregional cortical thickness covariance. Further, interactions were investigated to distinguish clinical variables that showed significant associations with cortical thickness.

CM patients exhibited no notable difference than controls during the whole brain cortical thickness analysis, but CM patients presented significant connections in clinical features and cortical thickness. The connections involved the right insula and the right superior temporal sulcus with different clinical variables, i.e., prolonged history of CM, sleep quality, somatic symptoms, pain self-efficacy, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Also, the CM patients exhibited higher interregional cortical covariance, especially between the temporal and frontal lobes. Though it is essential to address all CM characteristics and comorbidities, it may be beneficial to optimise the management of specific clinical characteristics that contribute to cortical abnormalities comprising controlling PTSD, enhancing pain self-efficacy and sleep quality, and early management to reduce the CM duration.