Evaluation of foramen spinosum morphometry in patients diagnosed with migraine

Migraine is a development that affects socially and economically negative behaviors of billions of people around the world. It is characterized by a unilateral headache that can last up to three days, and it poses a disability in the individual's quality of life because it is accompanied by symptoms such as photophobia, nausea, phonophobia and vomiting. For this reason, although the source of migraine is the subject of much research, its cause has not been fully determined. This situation causes limitations in the treatment protocols to be applied to the disease. Limitations make migraine studies clinically important. Our study aimed to evaluate foramen spinosum morphometry, which we thought would provide a different perspective on migraine pathophysiology. The study retrospectively examined brain computed tomography images of 58 patients diagnosed with migraine, aged 18-70, who applied to the neurology outpatient clinic of Balıkesir University Health Practice and Research Hospital between 2017 and 2023, and 58 healthy individuals who were not diagnosed with migraine. In the study, right-left foramen spinosum morphometric measurements, head length-width measurements, and right-left foramen spinosum distance measurements from the midline were made. As a result of statistical analysis of the data, foramen spinosum morphometry was found to be significant in migraine patients compared to the control group. As a result of the statistical analysis performed between the male and female patient groups, the morphometry of the female foramen spinosum was found to be narrower. Foramen spinosum morphometry, distance from the midline and head length-width measurements were not found to be significant between the patient and healthy groups. A negative correlation was found between right foramen spinosum width and age in the patient group. A positive correlation was found between left foramen spinosum length and age in the control group. These data obtained as a result of our study revealed an increase in foramen spinosum morphometry in migraine pathophysiology and it was concluded that it will shed light on other procedures performed in this field.