Interictal and ictal phase study with Tc 99m HMPAO brain SPECT in juvenile migraine with aura

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed on 30 juvenile patients suffering from different types of migraine with aura. SPECT was carried out only during the pain-free interval in 11 patients. The other 19 patients underwent SPECT ictally and 9 of them also interictally. During the pain-free interval, the investigation was normal in 16 of 20 cases and revealed hypoperfused areas in 4 of 20 cases. Ictally, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) abnormalities were found in 14 of 19 cases; hypoperfusion in 11 patients and hyperperfusion in 3 patients. In most cases, rCBF abnormalities corresponded to the topography of neurologic symptoms. Our interictal period results do not agree with the previous studies in juvenile migraineurs, while during the ictal phase we demonstrated, for the first time, significant rCBF abnormalities in juvenile patients suffering from migraine with aura.