CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF HEADACHE
Section snippets
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY
EEG is traditionally considered to be a useful adjunct to the clinical evaluation of headache, but, unfortunately, there is little scientific backing for this tradition. Few articles describe EEG findings that meet the criteria generally accepted for determining the clinical usefulness of a diagnostic test.39 Comprehensive reviews of EEG findings in migraine have been published by Hockaday and Debney45 and by Sand.93 In subjects with migraine, an incidence of EEG abnormalities as high as 70%
EVOKED POTENTIALS
Following the seminal observation by Golla and Winter37 of increased photic driving in the EEG of patients with migraine, the reactivity of electrocortical activity to visual stimuli has been assessed with a number of different techniques. Moreover, event-related potentials have yielded interesting results in relation to the biobehavioral aspects of migraine.
ELECTROMYOGRAPHY
Although EEG and evoked potentials have disclosed interesting pathophysiologic abnormalities in migraine, they are normal in tension-type headache (TH).100 By contrast, EMG has been studied extensively in TH in particular at a time when this headache type was thought to be due to an exaggerated contraction of pericranial muscles and thus called muscle contraction headache. More recently, attention has been paid to inhibitory reflexes of jaw-closing muscles, to other facial reflexes, and to limb
CONCLUSIONS
Methods of clinical neurophysiology are of little use for the diagnosis of headache disorders. They are, however, invaluable tools for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of so-called functional headaches. They are, indeed, atraumatic; able to explore simple or more complex neural activities; and, to some extent, capable of reflecting activity in certain neurotransmitter systems as well as the action of pharmacologic agents of the CNS. Because neurophysiologic methods are only
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The Comorbidity of Migraine and Epilepsy in Children and Adolescents
2016, Seminars in Pediatric NeurologyCitation Excerpt :Early EEG studies of patients with migraine emphasized the higher frequency of abnormal recordings compared with the general population, with a reported incidence ranging from 30%-60%.87-90 However, contemporary reviewers have highlighted that much of this literature is difficult to interpret, because of the absence of adequate control groups, inconsistent recording techniques, and other various methodological flaws.91-94 There have been a small number of controlled and blinded studies comparing EEG findings in children with migraine with normal controls, and they have suggested a higher prevalence of a variety of nonspecific abnormalities in migraineurs, both with and without aura.95,96
Automatic evaluation of the exteroceptive suppression of the temporalis muscle activity
2005, Neurophysiologie CliniqueCitation Excerpt :Therefore, the EST may be abnormal in sensory neuropathy of the trigeminal nerve [1] and some lesions of the medulla or pons [13,14]. As the polysynaptic pathway constitutes a convergence area of segmental trigeminal, and supra-segmental limbic, adrenergic and serotoninergic influences [2,18], ES2 might also index central pain processing. As such, it has been suggested to have useful clinical applications in neurology for the differentiation of masticatory spasm vs. mandibular dystonia [4,6], assessment of chronic tension headache [5,19,20], in rehabilitation medicine for the study of the mechanisms underlying cervicogenic headaches and neck pain [23], and in dental medicine to explore the pathophysiology of muscle tone abnormalities observed in temporomandibular disorders (TMDs).
The postconcussion syndrome after mild head trauma Part II: Is migraine underdiagnosed?
2000, Journal of Clinical NeuroscienceMigraine
1998, Lancet
Address reprint requests to Jean Schoenen, Department of Neurology, University of Liége, CHR Citadelle, B-4000 Liége, Belgium
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From the Department of Neurology, University of Lièege, Liège, Belgium