Hemodynamic findings in migraine patients on transcranial Doppler sonography

Forty migraine patients were examined by means of 3D-transcranial Doppler scanning (TCD). The complete circle of Willis was investigated in all patients during headache-free intervals. TCD investigations were repeated in 10 patients during a migraine attack, in one patient twice. Based on the diagnostic criteria of the "headache classification committee of the international headache society" 23 patients were assigned to a "migraine without aura" group and 17 to a "migraine with aura" group. Twenty age-matched volunteers, not suffering from headache or any vascular disease, served as a control group. No significant differences were detected between the hemodynamic data of the control group and the migraine groups both with respect to the headache-free interval and the attack. No hemodynamic changes in keeping with the pathophysiologic hypothesis of vasospasm were found in the proximal segments of the basal cerebral arteries.