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Patients with migraine are known to have increased sensitivity to different stimuli, leading to various symptoms. Photophobia is hypersensitivity to light, usually manifesting as avoidance, and is common in migraine with or without aura. To examine the underpinnings of this migraine feature, researchers performed PET scans using H215O in eight patients during spontaneous migraine without aura, after relief of headache (usually with sumatriptan), and between attacks. In each condition, patients were scanned initially in darkness and then with continuous luminous stimulation strong enough to increase the pain score by 2 points (out of 10) during the migraine headache.
The scans showed increased blood flow during headache, which the authors att…