MICHA study, Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Migraine classification using a support vector machine learning approach: a functional and structural MRI study
IRAS ID
227109
Contact name
Peter J Goadsby
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Migraine is a complex and disabling brain disorder. Migraine patients usually experience a unilateral or bilateral, throbbing pain that might last from 4 to 72 hours, and might be associated with phonophobia, photophobia, nausea and vomiting. There is growing evidence that migraine should be viewed as a complex brain network disorder that involve multiple cortical, subcortical and brainstem regions. One of the most exciting developments in modern neuroscience has been the development of imaging techniques which can provide insights into human brain structures, areas involved in certain disease processes, and possible links between brain structures and brain networks that could be involved in the pathophysiology of disease. Over the last two decades, a series of conventional and advanced magnetic resonance techniques have been applied extensively to the study of migraine patients, both in the course of an acute attack and during the interictal phase, revealing widespread structural and functional abnormalities in cortical and subcortical areas involved in pain and multisensory processing. Whether such alterations represent a predisposing trait or are the consequence of the recurrence of headache attacks is still a matter of debate.
In this study, using a multimodal MRI approach including different functional and structural MR modalities, we intend to identify an MRI pattern that might help us to distinguish migraine patients from healthy controls.
Once participants consent and enroll to the study, participants’ clinical history and physical examination will be obtained and then they will undergo an MRI brain scan.
This study will help us understand the mechanisms behind migraine pathophysiology, and in due course this may lead to further research into ways to treat this disabling disease.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EM/0384
Date of REC Opinion
20 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion