Migraine, carotid stiffness and genetic polymorphism

Abstract

Recently migraine has been associated with increased arterial stiffness, procoagulant state, increased incidence of cerebral white matter lesions (WML) and stroke. Our aim was to compare the characteristics of migraineurs to headache free controls regarding their functional carotid ultrasound parameters. Sixty patients (45 women) with migraine (mean age 40.42±10.61 years) were compared with 45 controls (30 women) with no prior history of repeating headache (men age 38.94±5.46 years) using E-tracking software on Alpha 10 ultrasound platform. Student’s t-test was used on statistical analysis with alpha <0.05. All tested carotid vascular parameters were worse in patients with migraine including increased intima-media thickness, greater carotid diameter and carotid diameter change, as well as several arterial stiffness indices. Additionally, patients with migraine had greater incidence of homozygous mutations for procoagulant genes (MTHFR (C677T), PAI-1 and ACE I/D) than expected. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed WML in 11 patients, four of them migraine with aura patients. Since we established increased carotid stiffness and higher frequency of procoagulant gene mutations in migraineurs, we propose prospective ultrasound monitoring in such patients, especially those with detected WML, in order to timely commence more active and specific preventive stroke management strategies.

Keywords

• Migraine disorders
• Carotid artery diseases
• Vascular stiffness
• Atherosclerosis
• Stroke