• Shabnam Ezzatian-Ahar, AminFaisal MohammadFM, Hayder Ghani Obaid, Nanna Arngrim, Anders Hougaard, Henrik B W Larsson, and Messoud Ashina.
• Danish Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Nordre Ringvej 57, Glostrup DK-2600, Denmark. ashina@dadlnet.dk.
• J Headache Pain. 2014 May 10; 15: 27.

BackgroundThe circle of Willis is an important source of collateral blood flow to maintain adequate cerebral perfusion, particularly in the posterior circulation. Some studies report a relationship between incomplete circle of Willis and migraine, whereas other studies show no difference between the prevalence of incomplete circle of Willis in migraineurs and controls. In the present study we compared the prevalence of incomplete circle of Willis in female migraine patients without aura to female healthy non-migraine controls.Using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance angiography we recorded three-dimensional time-of-flight angiograms in 85 female participants (48 migraine patients without aura [median age 28 years] and 37 healthy controls [median age 25 years]). The images were subsequently analysed blindly by a neuroradiologist to detect incomplete circle of Willis.FindingsWe found no difference between the prevalence of incomplete circle of Willis in patients, 20/47 (43%), and controls, 15/37 (41%), p = 0.252. Post hoc analysis showed a significant relationship between age and prevalence of incomplete circle of Willis, p = 0.003.ConclusionWe found no relationship between migraine without aura and incomplete circle of Willis.

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