MIGRAINE OF GASTROINTESTINAL ORIGIN

A consecutive series of 31 children (median age 12 years) suffering fr om migraine with (n = 21) or without (n = 10) aura underwent endoscopi c oesophageal, gastric and duodenal biopsy in order to determine wheth er the complaints were of gastro-intestinal origin. Of these 31 childr en, 13 (41.9%) showed oesophagitis, 16(51.6%) gastritis of corpus, 12 (38.7%) antral gastritis and 27 (87.1%) duodenitis. Thus, 29 of the 31 children studied had an underlying inflammatory lesion explaining the ir complaints, Helicobacter pylori colonization was found in 7 of the children: one had H. pylori associated antral and corporal gastritis a nd 6 H, pylori associated antral gastritis only. Gastritis of corpus w ithout H. pylori was present in all these 6 children. Our data do not support that H. pylori is a primary pathogen of inflammatory changes s een in children studied, neither do they establish an association betw een H. pylori, antral gastritis and migraine, However, our data strong ly suggest that there is a gastro-intestinal origin of these patients' complaints. Conclusion Our findings provide further evidence that rec urrent abdominal pain is an early expression of migraine and strongly support a causal link between recurrent abdominal pain and migraine.