[The vestibular system and migraine in children]

Migraine in childhood is relatively common disease. Although clinical practice and scientific publications recognize frequent association of migraine and vestibular disorders, relationships have yet to be well defined. In present study the vestibular function was extensively tested in 20 children suffering from migraine. All the patients underwent complete neurootological examination including tonal threshold audiometry, testing of vestibulo-spinal reflexes--Romberg and Unterberger-Fukuda tests, Dix-Halpike test for BPPV, videonystagmography. On videonystagmography each patient was evaluated regarding: calibration, spontaneous nystagmus, gaze nystagmus, eye tracking test, optokinetic and positional nystagmus, and caloric testing. The same procedure have been performed regarding control group comprised of 15 healthy. All the patients with migraine presented abnormalities in vestibular testing. Analysis of the results showed that: functional state of structures forming both visuo-ocular and vestibulo-ocular structures was altered in all the migraine patients evaluated in the study, pathological findings suggest mainly central localisation of vestibular dysfunction in children suffering from migraine, the number of pathological VNG findings seems not to be correlated with the type of migraine.