BRAIN MRI IN CHILDREN WITH MIGRAINE - A CONTROLLED MORPHOMETRIC STUDY

Sixteen children and adolescents, aged 5-17 years, with migraine and 2 4 migraine-free age-matched healthy volunteers underwent brain MRI (1. 0 T). Signal intensities of the brain, midsagittal and coronal diamete rs of the brainstem were quantitatively measured General signal intens ities did not differ between the groups. Compared to controls (17%), m ore migraine patients (50%) had high-signal foci on T2-weighted images . The diameters of the pens were greater in the migraine group (p = 0. 016), although within the normal range. The diameters of the mesenceph alon and the medulla oblongata did not differ between the groups, perh aps because they reach the adult size in early childhood in contrast t o the pens, which continues to grow. Childhood migraine may be associa ted with slightly more than average growth of the pens. As the pathoph ysiology of migraine is still unclear, it might be worth studying with new MR methods.