REVIEW article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Translational Neuroscience
This article is part of the Research TopicResearch on the Correlative Mechanisms and Clinical Exploration of Headache and Cerebrovascular DiseasesView all 8 articles
Advances of neuroimaging findings in medication overuse headache
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Neurology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a chronic secondary headache disorder that develops from excessive analgesic use. The prevalence of MOH is estimated 1–2% in the general population, reaching up to 50% among individuals with chronic headache. Although the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying MOH remain incompletely understood, neuroimaging studies have provided valuable insights into its developments. This review synthesizes current evidence demonstrating that MOH is associated with structural and functional alterations in two key neural systems: 1) the pain matrix involved in nociceptive processing, 2) the mesocorticolimbic reward circuitry implicated in addictive behaviors. Importantly, certain structural and functional changes show partial reversibility following medication withdrawal. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to establish causal relationships between these neurobiological changes and the development/maintenance of MOH, which remains essential for developing targeted interventions.
Keywords: Medication Overuse Headache, Neuroimaging, pain matrix, mesocorticolimbic reward circuitry, Addiction
Received: 29 Sep 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Yang, Zheng, Jiang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jin Wang
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