Researchers compared brain scans of people suffering from migraines with brain scans of non-afflicted people, only to find that migraine sufferers present differences in the sensory areas of their cortex.

Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston conducted a study that suggests there are certain differences in the cortex of people suffering from migraines. The report is published in the Nov. 20 online issue of the journal Neurology.

It is not clear yet whether these differences are a result of migraine attacks or perhaps their cause.

The scientists performed brain scans on 24 people who experienced migraines periodically (about four per month for 20 years) and 12 people who did not get migraines, according to Reuters.

Comparing the scans, the researchers found that the somatosensory cortex area of the brain was up to 21 percent thicker in the migraine sufferers. This specific area of the brain is responsible with detecting sensations like pain, touch and temperature in various parts of the body.

The thickness changes were most significant in the part of the somatosensory cortex related to sensation of the head and face.

What remains to be clarified is whether migraines – repeated over-stimulation of the somatosensory cortex – lead to the thickening of the cortex, or whether some people are born with a thicker cortex and are predisposed to migraines, Dr. Nouchine Hadjikhani of Massachusetts General Hospital and lead author, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

She also noted that this shows the neurological aspects of migraines. “The more we understand about the pathophysiology of migraine, the better we will be able to design drugs that work. At the moment, there is no drug for prevention that works well,” Hadjikhani said.

Previous research has shown that cortex thickness differs in other disease, becoming thinner with neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, for example.

People suffering from migraines currently have only palliatives. There is no preventive medication that has been proven completely efficient.