Abstracts

RATIONALE: To review the neurophysiological data on EEG and study their correlation with migraine and its pathophysiology. Migraine affects 10% of the population, yet there is no proven diagnostic test. To date the most promising neurophysiological diagnostic technique has been the analysis of cerebral responses to photic stimulation or flicker (the [dsquote]H[dsquote] response). The diagnosis of migraine is based on the clinical criteria suggested by the IHS. Previously it was suggested (Gastaut 1954; Schnell and Klass 1966) that subjects with a rolandic mu rhythm appear to be more prone to headaches than the average population.
METHODS: We reviewed 1103 EEG studies done for various reasons over a period of 10 months, and selected all tracings with a prominent H-response at stimulus frequencies of 1-30 Hz (n=184). We then reviewed these for the presence of other normal variants such as mu and POSTS (positive occipital sharp transients of sleep), as well as EEG abnormalities, and correlated these with the clinical history and reason for EEG testing.
RESULTS: Of the 184 patients (age range 19-77 yrs., 102 F and 82 M), with prominent driving, 19 had no available history, and were excluded. Of the 165 remaining, 84 had a clinical history of migraine. 68/165 had a prominent rolandic mu rhythm; 56 with prominent mu had history of migraine (66.6% with migraine) and 12 (14.8% without migraine) did not have a history of migraine (p[lt]. 001 Chi-square).
48 of the 165 patients had stage II sleep, of these 21 had prominent POSTS, 16 of which had migraine (p[lt]. 02 Chi-square)
CONCLUSIONS: Prominence of rolandic mu rhythm in the EEG of migraine patients may suggest involvement of the somato-sensory and motor rolandic cortices. In our patients the diagnosis of migraine was significantly associated with the coexistence of prominent mu rhythm with excessive photic driving