TY - JOUR

T1 - Volume of the rectus capitis posterior minor muscle in migraine patients

T2 - a cross-sectional structural MRI study

AU - Hvedstrup, Jeppe

AU - Amin, Faisal Mohammad

AU - Hougaard, Anders

AU - Ashina, Håkan

AU - Christensen, Casper Emil

AU - Larsson, Henrik Bo Wiberg

AU - Ashina, Messoud

AU - Schytz, Henrik Winther

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Background: Neck pain in migraine patients is very prevalent between and during migraine attacks, but the underlying mechanism behind neck pain in migraine is unknown. The neck muscle rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi) may be important since it is connected to the occipital dura mater. In this study, we examined the RCPmi volume in migraine patients and compared with controls. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional MRI study examining muscle volume in 40 episodic migraine patients and 40 controls in preexisting images from prior studies. Three-dimensional T1 weighted sequences were collected with a 3.0 T MRI Scanner. The volume of RCPmi was examined by manually tracing the muscle circumference with Horos medical image viewer. The observer was blinded to participant information. No information regarding neck pain status during or between migraine attacks were available. Results: The mean RCPmi volume was 1.22cm3 in migraine patients and 1.17cm3 in controls (p = 0.549). We found no differences in RCPmi volume on the pain side vs. the non-pain side (p = 0.237) in patients with unilateral migraine. There were no association between the muscle volume and years with migraine, headache or migraine frequency, age or BMI. Conclusions: We found no difference in RCPmi volume between migraine patients and controls, suggesting no structural RCPmi pathology in migraine.

AB - Background: Neck pain in migraine patients is very prevalent between and during migraine attacks, but the underlying mechanism behind neck pain in migraine is unknown. The neck muscle rectus capitis posterior minor muscle (RCPmi) may be important since it is connected to the occipital dura mater. In this study, we examined the RCPmi volume in migraine patients and compared with controls. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional MRI study examining muscle volume in 40 episodic migraine patients and 40 controls in preexisting images from prior studies. Three-dimensional T1 weighted sequences were collected with a 3.0 T MRI Scanner. The volume of RCPmi was examined by manually tracing the muscle circumference with Horos medical image viewer. The observer was blinded to participant information. No information regarding neck pain status during or between migraine attacks were available. Results: The mean RCPmi volume was 1.22cm3 in migraine patients and 1.17cm3 in controls (p = 0.549). We found no differences in RCPmi volume on the pain side vs. the non-pain side (p = 0.237) in patients with unilateral migraine. There were no association between the muscle volume and years with migraine, headache or migraine frequency, age or BMI. Conclusions: We found no difference in RCPmi volume between migraine patients and controls, suggesting no structural RCPmi pathology in migraine.

KW - Headache

KW - Morphometry

KW - Muscle volume

KW - Pericranial muscles

KW - RCPmi

U2 - 10.1186/s10194-020-01129-y

DO - 10.1186/s10194-020-01129-y

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32460751

AN - SCOPUS:85085538356

VL - 21

JO - Journal of Headache and Pain

JF - Journal of Headache and Pain

SN - 1129-2369

M1 - 57

ER -