REGIONAL CEREBRAL BLOOD-FLOW AND OXYGEN-METABOLISM DURING MIGRAINE WITH AND WITHOUT AURA

Eleven cases of migraine with and without aura were investigated with positron emission tomography (PET). Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF ), oxygen metabolism (rCMRO(2)) and oxygen extraction (rOER) were meas ured during baseline (n = 11), aura (n = 6), headache (n = 10) and aft er treatment with sumatriptan (n = 4). Data were analysed using an ROI -based approach from 26 different anatomically defined regions, and al so an exploratory approach whereby all subjects were normalized to a s tereotactic brain atlas; t-maps were constructed by depicting signific ant changes between states. The exploratory approach revealed a region corresponding to the primary visual cortex with significant reduction s in rCBF (23.1%) and rCMRO(2) (22.5%), but no change in rOER during t he headache phase compared to baseline. These data suggest that cerebr al ischemia was not the primary cause of the attacks in these cases.