• Sevcan Sarısoy, Ömer Faruk Aydın, Metin Sungur, Ilkay Koray Bayrak, Servet Aker, Hamit Özyürek, Haydar Ali Taşdemir, and Kemal Baysal.
• Department of Pediatric Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, Kurupelit Kampusu 55139 Samsun, Turkey.
• Eur. J. Pediatr. 2011 Mar 1; 170 (3): 365-70.

UnlabelledMigraine is the most common headache in childhood, and there are some reports that suggest the relationship between migraine and right-to-left shunt. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of right-to-left shunt in children with migraine with aura and compare it with children with migraine without aura, and in healthy children. In a cross-sectional case-control study, we assessed 20 children with migraine with aura, 20 migraine without aura and 20 healthy age, and gender-matched control group. We determined the frequency of right-to-left shunt by transcranial doppler with contrast and transthoracic echocardiography without contrast. The dopplers and echocardiograms were performed blindly by the same examiners during headache-free periods. The presence of right-to-left shunt was found in 13/20 patients with migraine with aura compared with five of 20 migraine without aura and four of 20 control subjects. The frequency of right-to-left shunt in migraine with aura was statistically different from the other two groups (P < 0.005). There was no association between right-to-left shunt and frequency of attacks, duration and intensity of attacks, uni/bilateral occurence, familial occurrence, gender and age of patients.Conclusionour findings suggest possible association of migraine with aura and right-to-left shunt. It seems that right-to-left shunt does not influence the clinical features of migraine.

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