Quantitative EEG Changes and their Relation to Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Migraine

Raghad A.  Abdulkareem; Hanan L. Al- Omary

doi:10.18502/fbt.v12i3.19167

Raghad A. Abdulkareem Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq
Hanan L. Al- Omary Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v12i3.19167

Keywords: Quantitative Electroencephalogram; Migraine without Aura; Migraine with Aura; Absolute Power.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to identify quantitative EEG changes in migraine patients as compared to a control group, and to explore the relationship between these changes and the clinical characteristics of migraine patients.

Materials and Methods: In this study, a total of 38 participants were recruited from the neurophysiology unit at Ghazi Al-Hariri Hospital. Among them, 18 were healthy individuals with no history of chronic headaches or neurological diseases, and the remaining 20 were diagnosed migraine patients. To provide a clearer understanding of the sample size, the migraine patients were further divided into two groups: ictal and inter-ictal, based on the presence or absence of headaches during the testing. EEG recordings were conducted for 10 minutes each with eyes closed and eyes open conditions. Subsequently, absolute power values for Delta, Theta, Alpha, and Beta brain waves were calculated in each group.

Results: The quantitative EEG analysis revealed a significant decrease in Theta and Beta waves, following a descending pattern from the control group to inter-ictal migraine patients and then to ictal migraine patients. Conversely, Alpha waves exhibited an ascending pattern, increasing from the control group to inter-ictal and ictal migraine patients. When comparing the absolute power of Alpha waves between patients with migraine without aura (M_woA) and migraine with aura (M_wA), the results demonstrated that during closed-eye conditions, Alpha waves were higher in M_wA than in M_woA. However, under open-eye conditions, the Alpha wave amplitude significantly decreased in M_wA compared to M_woA, during both ictal and inter-ictal phases.

Conclusion: Neurophysiological abnormalities have been identified in the brains of migraine patients. Comparing quantitative EEG results between migraine patients with aura and those without aura, it was found that Alpha waves were more responsive to EEG tasks in migraine patients with aura, both during inter-ictal and ictal phases