Migraine is a primary disorder of the brain with peripheral consequences. The prevalence of migraine is as high as 18% in the general populations. The association between migraine and stroke has been well documented in many case-control and cohort studies. This association has been stronger in patients with migraine with aura compared to migraine without aura and dependent on sex, age, frequenc...

PURPOSE To identify consistent results of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies in migraine. METHODS Whole-brain VBM studies comparing migraine patients with healthy controls (HC) were systematically searched in PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Embase, and Medline databases from January 1990 to Dec 2014. Coordinates were extracted from clusters with significant difference in gray matter volume (GM...

Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited subtype of migraine with aura. The clinical characteristics of FHM have been described previously in selected materials or case studies, but population-based studies are important in order to analyse the full spectrum of the disorder. The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic search for familial cases of ...

In 1944, Leão described cortical spreading depression, the phenomenon now widely believed to underlie what some persons with headache perceive as “aura.” Aura is a somewhat misleading term because it can occur before a migraine, during or after a migraine, or occur without any associated headache. It can also occur with many other types of headache, but in clinical practice it is usually in ass...

See related article, pages 3145–3151. The relation between migraine and stroke has been well recognized and has been the focus of several publications.1–3 Despite many hypotheses linking the 2 disorders, the precise mechanisms are unknown, and not surprisingly very complex. In this issue of Stroke, Pezzini and colleagues4 add to this complexity by suggesting that migraine with aura may “mediate...

Background: The sporadic type of Hemiplegic Migraine (HM) is sometimes observed among migrainous patients (MP) and mimics ischemic strokes. Methods: In an evaluation of two-hundred consecutive adult MP in the Mackenzie headache clinic, Canada during 2004 , 9% of the patients met the criteria established by the International Headache Society for sporadic HM. Female to male sex ratio, family...

In an epidemiological study of migraine [2] using a self-administered questionnaire filled out by 23,611 individuals from 9,507 American households, 17.6% of women and 5.7% of men between ages 12 and 80 years had headaches that met a definition of migraine that was based on a modification of the International Headache Society’s criteria [1]. Projections from this study to the country as a whole...

Migraine is a common neurological disorder that affects 11% of adults worldwide. This disease most likely has a neurovascular origin. Migraine with aura (MA) and more common form - migraine without aura (MO) - are the two main clinical subtypes of disease. The exact pathomechanism of migraine is still unknown, but it is thought that both genetic and environmental factors are involved in this pa...

OBJECTIVE To examine the role of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in migraine during headache and asymptomatic periods. METHODS Thirty-four patients with migraine with and without aura (according to International Headache Society criteria) were studied. Clinical characteristic of headache were recorded. Blood samples for measurement of MMP-9 were drawn during headache attacks and during asy...