NCT05524493

High-field MR Imaging in Migraine, Visual Snow and Epilepsy

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Zurich · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

In this project, the aim is to recruit patients with drug resistant epilepsy and those suffering from migraine. Interestingly, patients suffering from epilepsy are also more often reporting to suffer from migraine. The pathobiology is understudied, but it is believed that both etiologies results from brain networks changes. A clinical certified 7T Terra Siemens scanner will be employed to assess in all participants (including healthy controls) how the microstructure differs in disease specific areas. Patients will further be clinically assessed as well as undergo questionnaires. Migraine is also a common comorbidity to visual snow syndrom and has been shown to impact similar brain regions. However, the pathophysiology is still understudied and a better understanding of the two diseases is needed.

Conditions

• Migraine
• Epilepsy
• Visual Snow Syndrome

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Structural MRI	We will examine migraine and epilepsy patients as well as healthy controls using conventional structural MRI in the brain and spinal cord including T1-, T2-, and T2\*-weighted sequences
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Quantitative MRI	We will examine migraine and epilepsy patients as well as healthy controls using quantitative MRI in the brain and spinal cord. This includes multi-parameter mapping (MPM) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Diffusion MRI	We will examine migraine and epilepsy patients as well as healthy controls using diffusion MRI in both brain and spinal cord.
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	fMRI	We will examine migraine and epilepsy patients as well as healthy controls using resting-state and task fMRI (including sensory stimulation using pain stimulus) in both brain and spinal cord.
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	MR Spectroscopy	We will examine migraine and epilepsy patients as well as healthy controls using MR Spectroscopy in both brain and spinal cord.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-03-01
• Primary completion: 2026-06-30
• Completion: 2026-06-30
• First posted: 2022-09-01
• Last updated: 2025-10-08

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Switzerland