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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
Episodic and chronic migraineurs are hypersensitive to thermal stimuli between migraine attacks
Todd J Schwedt1, Melissa J Krauss, Karen Frey
1Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. schwedtt@neuro.wustl.edu
Objective:
To determine if migraineurs have evidence of interictal cutaneous sensitisation.
Subjects And Methods:
Thermal and mechanical pain thresholds in 20 episodic migraineurs, 20 chronic migraineurs, and 20 non-migraine control subjects were compared. Quantitative sensory testing was conducted when subjects had been migraine-free for at least 48 h. Heat, cold and mechanical pain thresholds, and heat and cold pain tolerance thresholds were measured.
Results:
Thermal pain thresholds and thermal pain tolerance thresholds differed significantly by headache group (P = 0.001). During the interictal period, episodic and chronic migraineurs were more sensitive to thermal stimulation than non-migraine controls.
Conclusions:
Interictal sensitisation may predispose the migraineur to development of headaches, may be a marker of migraine activity, and a target for treatment.
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