ABSTRACT
Twenty-six patients suffering from migraine with aura and without aura were examined using somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) during the intercritical phase. The mean amplitude of the prerolandic component was significantly reduced in migraine patients with and without aura on the right hemisphere; the ratio between the parietal N20/P25 and the prerolandic P22/N30 was significantly enhanced in migraine groups over the left and the right hemisphere. A significant interside asymmetry of the N30 amplitude was observed in the migraine with aura group in comparison with control subjects. The occurrence of SEP abnormalities was not correlated with the age of the patients, with illness duration or with the frequency of migraine attacks. SEP abnormalities observed in migraine with and without aura may have an underlying primary neural disorder probably based on a chronic dopaminergic dysfunction.
Subject(s)
Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory , Migraine Disorders/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Dopamine/physiology , Electric Stimulation , Electroencephalography , Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory/physiology , Female , Frontal Lobe/physiopathology , Functional Laterality/physiology , Humans , Male , Median Nerve/physiology , Migraine Disorders/physiopathology , Parietal Lobe/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Fifty-one migraine patients and 19 control subjects were examined by steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) procedure. The aim of this study was to develop a discriminant analysis and an artificial neural network (NN) classifier in order to discriminate between migraneurs during attack-free periods and normal subjects. Discriminant analysis correctly classified 72.5% of migraine patients with a false positive rate of 36.8%. The NN method had a sensitivity of 100% with a false positive rate of 15%. The results of this study confirm SSVEP pattern as a marker of migraine and demonstrate that NNs could be a useful method in the statistical analysis of topographic EEG data.
Subject(s)
Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology , Homeostasis/physiology , Migraine Disorders/diagnosis , Adult , Discriminant Analysis , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Migraine Disorders/complications , Models, Neurological , ROC Curve , Reference Values , Sensation Disorders/etiologyABSTRACT
Fifty-eight migraineurs were studied by intermediate frequency steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) during headache-free periods. Sex, age, age of onset of migraine, duration of illness, type of migraine, side of pain, sleep-wake disorders, and frequency of migraine attacks did not correlate with any SSVEP abnormalities. On the other hand, visual responsiveness was significantly increased in subjects with family history of migraine, and in those with autonomic symptoms. Our results may indicate that a genetic predisposition to migraine underlies the observed abnormal visual response in migraineurs.
