EHMTI-0337. Visual evoked potential abnormalities in migraineurs: is there a correlation with alpha power and photic driving on the EEG?
DOI: 10.1186/1129-2377-15-s1-e16
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Summary
This study investigates the relationship between visual evoked potential (PR-VEP) abnormalities and electroencephalogram (EEG) markers of cortical excitability in patients with episodic migraine. The research was motivated by existing evidence that interictal migraineurs exhibit reduced PR-VEP habituation, a phenomenon attributed to decreased thalamic drive and cortical preactivation. Concurrently, previous studies have identified increased "photic driving" at high frequencies during visual stimulation in these patients, suggesting cortical hyperexcitability. The primary aim was to compare EEG power spectra at rest and during photic stimulation with PR-VEP characteristics within the same cohort of migraine patients to determine if these physiological markers are correlated. The methodology involved thirty-seven episodic migraineurs who underwent both EEG and PR-VEP recordings in a random order. The participants were categorized into two groups based on their clinical status: twenty-two were in the interictal phase (between attacks), and fifteen were in the peri-ictal phase (during an attack). EEG power spectra of occipital activity were measured during a two-minute baseline recording and during two fifteen-second trains of 20 Hz flash stimulation to assess photic driving. The study analyzed correlations between PR-VEP habituation, initial PR-VEP amplitudes, baseline alpha power, and the power of the 20 Hz frequency band during photic stimulation. The results indicated distinct physiological profiles for the interictal and peri-ictal states. In the interictal group, PR-VEP habituation was reduced, and this deficit was associated with lower initial PR-VEP amplitudes. Furthermore, interictal photic driving tended to be lower (p=0.08), while baseline alpha power tended to be higher (p=0.06). Crucially, photic driving was positively correlated with PR-VEP amplitudes and negatively correlated with PR-VEP habituation (p < 0.05). In contrast, during migraine attacks, alpha power was associated with increased PR-VEP habituation (p < 0.05). The study concludes that the interictal deficit in PR-VEP habituation is associated with low photic driving at 20 Hz. During a migraine attack, both habituation and photic driving increase compared to the interictal state. These findings suggest that visual cortex preactivation decreases between attacks but increases during an attack. The correlations observed corroborate the hypothesis that during a migraine attack, visual cortex habituation increases proportionally to enhanced cortical preactivation and thalamic drive. This work provides consistent evidence linking EEG markers of cortical excitability with VEP abnormalities, offering insight into the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying migraine pathophysiology.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-08-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| enrich | success | semantic_scholar | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-08-09 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-nvidia | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 10 | 2026-08-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-08-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-nvidia on 2026-08-10; verification: verified.
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