ICTAL AND INTERICTAL EEG ABNORMALITIES IN 100 MIGRAINEURS WITH AND WITHOUT AURA

There are conflicting reports about eeg findings of the migraineurs. in this study we reportthe ictal and interictal eegs of 100 migraineurs in comparison with control group. the age range forpatient and control groups were 9-48 and 10-46 years, respectively; 32% of the patients were less than14 years old and the remaining 68% were more than 14 years. in the patient group, 68% of cases hadmigraine without aura and 32% suffered from migraine with aura. hemiplegic and basilar migraineswere observed in one and two of our patients, respectively. gender and age had no effect on the type ofmigraine. positive family history in first degree relatives was found in 64% of patients, without beinginfluenced by gender or type of migraine. male to female ratio was 1/1.6 (38/62). abnormal eeg wasfound to be much more frequent in migraineurs than the control group (47% vs. 7%). overall abnormaleegs were more common in children compared with adult group (53% vs. 44%), though slowdischarges were detected more in adult group. the most common abnormality was slow high voltagewaves, which was observed in 70% of abnormal recordings. the less common findings, in decreasingorder of frequency, were focal (slow, sharps or mixed) discharges in 29%, epileptiform discharges(alone or associated with slow waves) in 8.5%, diffuse beta and frontal intermittent delta activity, eachin 2.1% of abnormal recordings. it seems that interictal eegs do not add further information to theclinical and neurological examination.