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Updated: Sep 26, 2026

3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Cerebrovascular reactivity in adolescents with migraine and tension-type headache during headache-free interval and
Bernhard Rosengarten1, Jürgen Sperner, Ute Görgen-Pauly
1Department of Neurology, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Germany.
Background:
Migraine is a common cause of headache in adolescents. Assuming that the cerebral vasculature is involved in the pathophysiology of migraine, we compared cerebral vasoreactivity in adolescents both during a migraine attack and a headache-free interval.
Methods:
A functional transcranial Doppler test utilizing a visual stimulation paradigm was undertaken to measure the evoked flow velocity in the posterior cerebral artery of adolescents suffering from a migraine without aura or a tension-type headache. To serve as a control, data previously obtained from age-matched adolescents with no primary headache disorder were used. The flow curves were evaluated by determining the maximal flow velocity increase and by modeling their time course according to a control system analysis. In that analysis, the main dynamic features of the flow response were described mathematically in terms of a control system model of low order. The parameters were time delay, gain, attenuation, rate time, and natural frequency.
Results:
The attenuation parameter (P<.005), indicative of an increased tone of the vessel, and the resting absolute flow velocity (P<.01) both showed a significant increase during an attack in the adolescents with migraine; the gain parameter showed a trend towards similar increase (P =.07). The maximal flow velocity did not increase significantly during an attack.
Conclusions:
The control system approach utilized here appears to be more sensitive for detecting migraine-associated changes in cerebral vasoreactivity than examination of the maximal flow velocities alone.
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