This study examined the efficacy of lamotrigine in the prevention of migraine aura. Fifty nine patients suffering from migraine with aura received lamotrigine in a controlled three year prospective open study. Treatment response was defined as a reduction of aura frequency each month by at least 50%. Primary endpoint was reached by three quarters of the patients. Lamotrigine significantly reduc...

Background and Purpose—Previous P–magnetic resonance spectroscopy (P-MRS) studies have shown that cerebral cortical energy metabolism is abnormal in migraine and that cortical energy reserves decrease with increasing severity and duration of aura. Migrainous infarction is a rare complication of migraine with aura, and its pathophysiology is poorly understood. We used P-MRS to determine whether ...

Visual disturbances in migraineurs, such as visual aura, are typically episodic, that is, associated with the headache attack, and overlaid by head pain and other symptoms that impact the patient. In some patients, however, visual symptoms are dominant due to frequency (migraine aura status), duration (persistent migraine aura and other persistent positive visual phenomena), or complexity (visu...

OBJECTIVE To compare the prevalence of an incomplete circle of Willis in patients with migraine with aura, migraine without aura, and control subjects, and correlate circle of Willis variations with alterations in cerebral perfusion. METHODS Migraine with aura, migraine without aura, and control subjects were prospectively enrolled in a 1∶1∶1 ratio. Magnetic resonance angiography was performe...

OBJECTIVE  To evaluate whether patients with migraine are at increased risk of perioperative ischemic stroke and whether this may lead to an increased hospital readmission rate. DESIGN  Prospective hospital registry study. SETTING  Massachusetts General Hospital and two satellite campuses between January 2007 and August 2014. PARTICIPANTS  124 558 surgical patients (mean age 52.6 years; 5...

background: an imbalance of the cerebrovascular response during functional activation of the brain has been postulated as a factor in the pathophysiology of migraine. the purpose of this study was to determine the transcranial doppler sonography (tds) diagnostic value for the cerebral flow velocity changes in the interictal phase of classic migraine. methods: this study was carried out on 46 pa...

OBJECTIVE To estimate whether migraine in mid-life is associated with mortality from cardiovascular disease, other causes, and all causes. DESIGN Population based cohort study. SETTING Reykjavik, Iceland. PARTICIPANTS 18,725 men and women, born 1907-35 and living in Reykjavik and adjacent communities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Mortality from cardiovascular disease, non-cardiovascular diseas...

The hypothesis of cytokines as possible pain mediators in neurovascular inflammation offers a potential mechanism for the generation of migraine pain, but few studies examined cytokine levels in migraine patients. The aim of this study was to determine the levels of TNF-α, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-γ in serum of patients with migraine during attacks and attack-free periods. We evaluated ...

Migraine is a common episodic brain disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of disabling headache.(1) In one-third of patients, headache is preceded or accompanied by aura symptoms, which are transient and fully reversible hemispheric neurologic symptoms. In the absence of any objective marker, the diagnosis of migraine is clinical and based on the criteria proposed by the International Hea...