[Cervical discopathy, cervical migraine and vertebrobasilar arterial insufficiency: Clinical correlations]

The pathogenesis of cervical migraine may suggest that a connection exists between it and cervical discopathy and also vertebrobasilar arterial insufficiency. This correlation was studied in a group of 103 patients subjected to clinical observations. In 83 of them cervical discopathy was found, in 69 cervical migraine and in 40 vertebrobasilar insufficiency were present. Among those with discopathy migraine was present in 63.6% of cases, and vertebrobasilar insufficiency in 31%. In patients with cervical migraine degenerative changes of the type of cervical discopathy were present in 90% of cases, although in only 56.5% of cases clinical signs were present connected with these changes. Vertebrobasilar insufficiency was present in 45% of patients with cervical migraine, that is more frequently than in discopathy. In the group with vertebrobasilar insufficiency radiological changes in the cervical spine were present in 77.5% of cases and the same proportion of patients in this group had cervical migraine. These numbers confirm the connection between cervical migraine and radiological changes and clinical manifestations of discopathy, and they indicate also that cervical migraine may be a successive stage of vascular changes leading to circulatory failure in the area supplied by vertebral arteries. This failure may have a different course and pathological mechanism. In 12.5% of patients in this group no cervical migraine or radiological changes were demonstrated. The term "cervical migraine" seems inappropriate since this type of headache has another substrate and mechanism than true migraine.