Subinay Mandal
BACKGROUND
Migraine is one of the common causes of headache in children. Migraine and epilepsy are both common episodic neurological disorders. The comorbidity of these two conditions is well known. Many researcher have pointed out that neuronal hyperexcitability is the initiating event for occurrence of migraine attack. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the EEG in children with migraine.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We retrospectively analysed records of children who attended our paediatric outpatient department with diagnoses as suffering from migraine based on International Headache Society (IHS) diagnostic criteria. Apart from detailed clinical history, EEG of every patient was collected and analysed. EEG was performed interictally at least 24 hours after the last episode of headache attack in all the cases.
RESULTS
56 children (age range, 4-14 years) constituted our study group. 64.3% children had migraine without aura (common type) and in 23.2% cases had migraine with aura (classic type) other were with migraine variants. Abnormal EEG was reported in 30.3% children. 17% of children with migraine without history of seizure had abnormal EEG. Sixty one percent of patients with aura had abnormal EEG. History of either febrile fits or afebrile fits was present in total 17.1% of cases. The type of paroxysmal discharges we came across was- a) Sharp waves, b) Spikes and c) Spike and slow wave complexes. Abnormal paroxysmal sharp and spike-wave complexes (also called spike-and-slow-wave complexes) were the most common EEG abnormality.
CONCLUSION
EEG abnormality was found in significant number of children with migraine both with and without history of seizure in our study. This indicates neuronal hyperexcitability during episodes of migraine. So, EEG should be considered in patients with clinical diagnoses of migraine to exclude association of any seizure activity.
