Migraine in Patients With History of Centro-Temporal Epilepsy in Childhood: A Hm-PAO SPECT Study

Abstract

The authors report the results of a retrospective controlled study on the incidence of migraine in centro-temporal epilepsy compared to absence epilepsy, partial epilepsy and a group of patients with cranial trauma without epilepsy. The following observations from this series of 129 patients were made. Migraine was present in 63% of the patients with centro-temporal epilepsy (rolandic epilepsy), in 33% with absence epilepsy, in 7% with partial epilepsy and in 9% of the cranial trauma group. These results suggest that the association of centro-temporal epilepsy and migraine is non-fortuitous and also to a lesser degree in absence epilepsy. The role of neurotransmitters in this association is discussed. No decrease in cerebral blood flow was observed in 12 patients with rolandic epilepsy on a Hm-PAO SPECT study.