Active clinical trials for "Migraine Disorders"

Children and adolescents that visited the pediatric neurology clinic at the Bnai Zion medical center do to migraine or TTH headache between the years 2007-2010 were reevaluated. We used a structured headache questionnaire through a phone interview with the patients and their caregivers. Data regarding demographics, the patients' and families' medical history, and headache history, past and current (age at onset, location, quality, frequency, duration of episodes, aura, associated symptoms and treatment) were collected.

Migraine is very frequent (15% of the general population). During attacks, many subjects with migraine have allodynia (pain induced by normally non-painful stimuli), photophobia (hypersensitivity to light), phonophobia (hypersensitivity to sound) or osmophobia (hypersensitivity to odours). The goal of the present study is to validate a new questionnaire made of 4 parts evaluating the presence of these 4 types of hypersensitivity, both during or between migraine attacks. It will allow to look for associations of these 4 symptoms and association of hypersensitivity with patients' or migraine's characteristics.

An increase in intracranial pressure (ICP) during migraine attacks is possible and could contribute to pain initiation and maintenance. From now on, it was not possible to measure ICP in a non-invasive way. The development of a new tool allows non-invasive self-measures of ICP variations. Thus, it is possible for the first time to look for such ICP variations during migraine attacks and to conclude if this mechanism is implied in the pathophysiology of migraine.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a non-invasive retinal imaging technology that can provide high-resolution cross-sectional images of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and measure its thickness. A reduction of the RNFL thickness has been detected in several neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, CADASIL and Alzheimer's disease. Different studies have reported RNFL changes also in migraine, is a common hereditary chronic neurovascular disorder, characterized by dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. The pathophysiology of migraine has not been fully clarified, but there is increasing evidence that episodes of migraine with aura are initiated by a focal reduction in cerebral blood flow, which occurs most commonly in the posterior region of one hemisphere. Although vasoconstriction of cerebral and retinal blood vessels is a transient phenomenon, the chronic nature of the migraine might cause permanent structural abnormalities of the brain and also of the retina, which may correlate with RNFL thinning. Previous studies on this subject, however, reported contradicting results. Some investigations reported reductions of the RNFL thickness while others did not. In the present study, in order to determine whether RNFL thickness is reduced in migraine patients, the investigators performed a meta-analysis and systematically evaluated RNFL thickness measurements with OCT in a series of migraine patients and in the healthy control groups.

The release of the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is thought to play a causative role in migraine. Nociceptin immunoreactivity and ORL-1 mRNA have been detected in human trigeminal ganglia where it was co-localized with CGRP. It may play a role in migraine pathogenesis. We are collecting the blood samples of migraineurs for analysis of these neuropeptides.

According to recent studies, we want to find evidences that infant colics could be a episodic symptom associated to migraine as cyclic vomiting syndrome or abdominal migraine are. The main purpose is to compare the presence of colics in infants between 60 days and 180 days of life and the presence of migraine in their parents to determine if colicky children's parents are more migrainous than other parents.