The blink reflex in migraine

The blink reflex is an objective and useful method to study the trigeminal system. It was recorded in 43 migraine patients and the findings compared with those of 31 healthy controls. The latencies of the R1 component were in the normal range in both groups. The R2 latencies ranged between 30 and 32 ms in the control group. In contrast, more than half of the patients with migraine had R2 latencies between 32 and 35 ms in the migraine group. Some migraine patients had latencies above 35 ms. The R2 latency was statistically significantly different between controls and migraineurs (p < 0.0001). Our findings indicate that trigeminal afferents and/or polysynaptic pathway in brainstem may be altered in migraine.