Longitudinal changes in cerebral blood flow velocities in different clinical courses of migraine

Objective

To assess longitudinal changes in cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFVs) according to the clinical course of migraine.

Methods

We retrospectively included migraine patients with two or more attacks per month at baseline who were followed up within 2 years with transcranial Doppler in a tertiary headache clinic. CBFVs were analyzed in relation to clinical courses, defined as remission (0–1 headache days/month), persistence (2–14/month), or progression (≥15/month) in episodic migraine (EM), and conversion to EM (<15/month) and persistence (≥15/month) in chronic migraine (CM).

Results

A total of 166 patients (90 EM and 76 CM) were included. In EM, the remission group (n = 30) showed a decrease in CBFV in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and the basilar artery (BA). The progression group (n = 10) showed increasing CBFVs in the bilateral MCAs. Patients with the persistence course (n = 50) showed generally unchanged CBFVs. In CM, CBFVs decreased in the BA and increased in the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) after conversion to EM (n = 61), whereas they remained unchanged in the persistence group (n = 15). In all patients, % change in headache days was positively correlated with the %CBFVs of the bilateral MCAs and the BA.

Conclusions

CBFV changes are associated with the different clinical courses of migraine. The association is more prominent in EM than CM.

from Cephalalgia via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/29JOqDG
via IFTTT