Emerging Concepts in Migraine and Orofacial Pain: Research and Management

Dear Colleagues,

Migraine is one of the most prevalent and disabling neurological disorders worldwide, affecting more than one billion people and imposing a substantial personal, societal, and economic burden. Although remarkable progress has been made in understanding migraine pathophysiology and developing mechanism-based therapies, important challenges remain in elucidating disease mechanisms, improving diagnosis, optimizing treatment strategies, and advancing individualized patient care. At the same time, advances in neuroscience, pharmacology, genetics, digital health, epidemiology, and clinical research continue to reshape our understanding and management of migraine. Orofacial migraine has been recently recognized and classified in the International Classification of Orofacial Pain (ICOP). Increasing recognition of such previously under-recognized migraine phenotypes, including orofacial migraine and other craniofacial manifestations of migraine, has further expanded the spectrum of migraine disorders and highlighted important diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

This Special Issue aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for disseminating high-quality research that advances our understanding of migraine across the continuum from basic science to clinical practice. We welcome original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and methodological contributions addressing emerging concepts in migraine, including pathophysiological mechanisms, biomarkers, innovative pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, precision medicine, digital technologies, patient-reported outcomes, healthcare delivery, and real-world evidence. We particularly encourage submissions addressing orofacial migraine, including its epidemiology, clinical phenotype, diagnostic criteria, pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, imaging, biomarkers, treatment, and relationship to other primary headache and orofacial pain disorders.

By bringing together researchers and clinicians from diverse disciplines, this Special Issue seeks to highlight recent advances, identify current knowledge gaps, and stimulate future research that will contribute to improved prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of migraine. We hope this collection will also foster greater recognition of orofacial migraine as an important and evolving area of headache and orofacial pain research.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.

Kind regards, 

Prof. Dr. Parisa Gazerani