New insights into brain dysfunction in migraine

Headache is one of the most common presenting symptoms to a physician's office. The majority of headaches are in the category known as primary headaches, where there are no structural disturbances. Secondary headaches are uncommon and usually occur in less than 10% of patients. The mechanisms of secondary headaches are usually due to the underlying pathology. These are usually evident on neuroimaging or laboratory testing. This review will focus mainly on mechanisms of primary headache (i.e., migraine and cluster).