Evaluation of macular and peripapillary structure and microvasculature with optical coherence tomography angiography in migraine in the Indian population.

Background: Migraine has been proposed as a potential contributing factor to ischemic complications involving the retina and optic nerve. Ophthalmic disorders connected with migraine encompass occlusions of the branch and central retinal arteries and veins, alongside anterior and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy. With the advent of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), it is easy to identify these macular subclinical microvascular and structural changes.

Aim: To evaluate macular and peripapillary structural and microvasculature changes in patients with migraine with aura (MA), migraine without aura (MW), and healthy control (HC) participants using OCTA.

Methods: In this observational cross-sectional study, we studied a total of 100 eyes: (1) 32 eyes of 16 patients with MA; (2) 36 eyes of 18 patients with MW, recruited based on the International Classification of Headache Disorders; and (3) 32 eyes of 16 age and sex-matched healthy participants. Foveal flux, foveal avascular zone (FAZ), peripapillary flux obtained from OCTA, and foveal and peripapillary ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness calculated optical coherence tomography were compared among the groups.

Results: The mean FAZ area measured in patients with MA and MW was significantly larger than that in the control participants ( = 0.002). However, there was no significant difference between the FAZ of the MA and MW groups. Macular perfusion in the superficial capillary plexus in patients with MA was significantly lower compared to MW ( = 0.0018) and HCs ( = 0.002). There was also significant thinning of the GCL in patients with MA and MW ( = 0.001) compared to HCs. However, there was no significant difference in temporal GCL thickness between the MA and MW groups.

Conclusion: Significant changes have been found in structural and microvascular parameters in patients with migraines compared with HCs. OCTA can serve as a valuable non-invasive imaging technique for identifying microcirculatory disturbances, aiding in better understanding the pathogenesis of different types of migraine and establishing their link with other ischemic retinal and systemic pathologies.