Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research
-
Review
Autonomic dysfunction and cardiac repolarization abnormalities in patients with migraine attacks.
The clinical symptoms of migraine are widely accepted to be related to the involvement of the autonomic nervous system, and especially to dysfunction in the regulation of the circulatory system and autonomic balance. Disturbance of the autonomic nervous system is a primary characteristic of migraine Therefore, patients with migraine have a variety of symptoms, such as vasodilatation (flushing), pilo-erection, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cutaneous vasoconstriction (pallor), and diaphoresis. The electrocardiographic changes seen during a migraine attack compared with the pain-free period could be secondary to reversible disturbances of the state of autonomic innervation of the heart and coronary arteries. ⋯ However, there is no information in literature reporting the frequency of cardiac arrhythmias in migraine patients who had cardiac repolarization abnormalities. In this review, detailed electrocardiographic findings and their relation with the autonomic nervous system, including recent observations, have been evaluated. However, further studies are needed to investigate the association between autonomic dysregulation and cardiac repolarization abnormalities in patients with migraine.