Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Migraine brains 'are different'

Those who have experienced this problem know how important this development is.

Scientists have discovered differences in the sensory areas of the brains of people who develop migraines.They found a part of the cortex is thicker than in people who are free from the debilitating headaches. What is not clear is whether the difference causes, or is the result of migraine attacks. The Neurology study, by Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, suggests the changes may make patients hyper-sensitive to pain in general. The researchers, from the hospital's Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, compared 24 people who get migraines with 12 who do not suffer the condition. They found the somatosensory cortex area of the brain was up to 21% thicker in the migraine sufferers.
The full story from the BBC.

No comments:

Post a Comment