Cortical spreading depression: origins and paths as inferred from the sequence of events during migraine aura.

We report five cases of migraineurs who experience unusually abundant clinical phenomena during auras. These patients were selected from a cohort of migraine with aura patients who were interviewed, using a specially designed questionnaire, to evaluate the presence of higher cortical dysfunctions. On the basis of the aura symptoms they reported, we attempted to infer the origin and the possible paths of CSD in each patient. According to their reported symptoms, CSD could begin in the primary visual cortex, in the primary somatosensory cortex or simultaneously in both, and propagate to the posterior parietal cortex, the temporal lobe and Broca's area. We believe that clinical descriptions of aura could play an important role in further investigations of the pathophysiology of migraine. PMID: 25321892 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Functional Neurology - Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research