Open AccessInterpreting vessel diameter changes in vascular headaches
Author(s) -
Moskowitz Michael A
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
cephalalgia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.57
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1468-2982
pISSN - 0333-1024
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-2982.1992.1201005.x
Subject(s) - medicine , headaches , vascular headache , migraine , cardiology , surgery
Ten migraineurs with unilateral headache were subjected to transcranial doppler sonography (to measure blood velocity within the middle cerebral artery) and single photon emission computerized tomography (to measure blood flow within the middle cerebral artery territory) in order to derive estimates of middle cerebral artery caliber changes in headache subjects. Both measurements were obtained shortly after headache onset and compared with measurements taken 30 min after administering sumatriptan. Sumatriptan abolished or significantly reduced the unilateral headache and increased middle cerebral artery velocity ipsilaterally, whereas blood flow remained unchanged. Based on a known mathematical relationship between vessel diameter and velocity when flow remains constant, the authors estimated that the middle cerebral artery diameter was increased by 20% on the headache side during the attack. The authors concluded that "headache pain was due to, or at least closely associated with, intracranial large artery dilation", that "migraine headache originates from the dilated large arteries" and that "sumatriptan... predominantly acts on pathologically distended arteries".