A team of researchers from the Medical University of Vienna is investigating new therapies to treat light sensitivity, which causes migraine in many people.
For some migraineurs, normal levels of daylight send them to darkened rooms during an attack. They are also inclined to avoid light between attacks. Until now, a deliberate strategy of avoidance has been among the recommendations doctors give to migraine patients.
“With the passage of time we have come to suspect that avoiding light may be detrimental, because it can heighten sensitivity to light – so-called photophobia – even more,” explains migraine specialist Christian Wober. This can be compared to people who are afraid of heights or of confined spaces. Avoiding such fear-provoking situations will not solve the problem. In a recent study funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a team of researchers from the Medical University of Vienna is exploring whether there are other, more sustainable ways of dealing with light sensitivity during migraine attacks. First investigations have shown that the opposite approach, desensitising the brain to light stimuli might be a better strategy than avoiding light. In one-week training sessions patients are exposed to “flickering light” in order to accustom the brain to bright or normal light.
“The ongoing research project will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to obtain the initial functional brain data that will help devise the best possible strategy,” says Roland Beisteiner who submitted the project to the FWF. Migraine patients and non-migraineurs will be treated with both measures – light exposure and light withdrawal. For the first time, the reactions of the brain will be measured to see the effects of these two opposite strategies.
“As yet, we don’t know for certain whether desensitization, i.e. treatment using light, actually improves the brain tolerance of light. If it does, it would open up a completely new therapeutic avenue,” say the researchers.
February 2, 2016