ICTAL AND INTERICTAL EEG ABNORMALITIES IN 100 MIGRAINEURS WITH AND WITHOUT AURA

Abstract- There are conflicting reports about EEG findings of the migraineurs. In this study we report the ictal and interictal EEGs of 100 migraineurs in comparison with control group. The age range for patient and control groups were 9-48 and 10-46 years, respectively; 32 % of the patients were less than 14 years old and the remaining 68 % were more than 14 years. In the patient group, 68 % of cases had migraine without aura and 32 % suffered from migraine with aura. Hemiplegic and basilar migraines were observed in one and two of our patients, respectively. Gender and age had no effect on the type of migraine. Positive family history in first degree relatives was found in 64 % of patients, without being influenced by gender or type of migraine. Male to female ratio was 1/1.6 (38/62). Abnormal EEG was found to be much more frequent in migraineurs than the control group (47 % vs. 7%). Overall abnormal EEGs were more common in children compared with adult group (53 % vs. 44%), though slow discharges were detected more in adult group. The most common abnormality was slow high voltage waves, which was observed in 70 % of abnormal recordings. The less common findings, in decreasing order of frequency, were focal (slow, sharps or mixed) discharges in 29%, epileptiform discharges (alone or associated with slow waves) in 8.5%, diffuse beta and frontal intermittent delta activity, each in 2.1 % of abnormal recordings. It seems that interictal EEGs do not add further information to the clinical and neurological examination.