• R Totaro, C Marini, G De Matteis, M Di Napoli, and A Carolei.
• Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
• Cephalalgia. 1997 May 1; 17 (3): 191-4.

AbstractAlterations of intracranial vessel tone have been implicated in the pathophysiology of migraine. The cerebrovascular reactivity was measured by means of transcranial Doppler in 60 migraine patients with (n = 30) or without aura (n = 30) during the headache-free interval and in 30 healthy controls. The vasomotor response was evaluated during hypercapnia induced by inhalation of a mixture of CO2 5% and O2 95% and during hypocapnia obtained after voluntary hyperventilation. To improve the power of the study in detecting possible abnormalities of cerebrovascular reactivity, two different measures were performed at 1 week intervals in migraine patients and controls. Reactivity index values during CO2 inhalation were significantly different (p = 0.01) among the three groups during the first and second measurements; in particular, lower values were found in patients suffering from migraine without aura with respect to controls (p < 0.05, Scheffé's test). Values of reactivity index obtained following induction of hypocapnia did not differ between migraine patients and controls (all p values > 0.05). Our data suggest a reduced vasodilatory response to hypercapnia of cerebral arterioles in patients suffering from migraine without aura with respect to controls that might be related to baseline arteriolar vasodilation.

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