Edited by Yonggang Wang, MD, PhD, Capital Medical University, China
This thematic series aims to provide a collection of papers addressing the novel pathophysiology and developing neuroimaging-guided treatments for headache disorders.
Headache is a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting more than 50% global population. The development of non-invasive neuroimaging techniques has significantly advanced our understanding of headache pathophysiology. These techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalogram (EEG), and magnetoencephalography (MEG), have been used to study abnormal brain functions and structures in patients with different types of headaches. The neuroimaging methods have provided means for exploring the functional anatomy of the headache related nuclei. In headache syndromes, these techniques should open new ways for targeting the neural substrates at the basis of the diseases. In addition, these techniques promise to be a powerful method for investigating and monitoring the effects of novel therapies. Moreover, studies that aimed to develop new intervention approaches also applied neuroimaging techniques to associate the changes of brain responses with the changes of headache symptoms, exploring a deeper understanding of the treatment mechanism thus facilitating treatment protocols.
