Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: Using conventional visual evoked potentials (VEPs), migraine patients were found to be hyperresponsive to visual stimulus. Considering that a significant portion of neuronal activity is lost for analysis in the averaging process of conventional VEPs, in this study we investigated visual evoked responses of migraine patients and healthy volunteers using a different approach: single trial analysis. This method permits to preserve all stimulus-induced neuronal activations, whether they are synchronized or not.

Background: It is well-known that both inter-and intra-individual differences exist in the perception of pain; this is especially true in migraine, an elusive pain disorder of the head.

Background Previous functional MRI studies have revealed that ongoing clinical pain in different chronic pain syndromes is directly correlated to the connectivity strength of the resting default mode network (DMN) with the insula. Here, we investigated seed-based resting state DMN-insula connectivity during acute migraine headaches. Methods Thirteen migraine without aura patients (MI) underwent 3 T MRI scans during the initial six hours of a spontaneous migraine attack, and were compared to a group of 19 healthy volunteers (HV).

Background: A short ketogenic diet (KD) treatment can prevent migraine attacks and correct excessive cortical response. Here, we aim to prove if the KD-related changes of cortical excitability are primarily due to cerebral cortex activity or are modulated by the brainstem. Methods: Through the stimulation of the right supraorbital division of the trigeminal nerve, we concurrently interictally recorded the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the pain-related evoked potentials (PREP) in 18 migraineurs patients without aura before and after 1-month on KD, while in metabolic ketosis.

Besides having incomplete efficacy, acute and preventive migraine drug treatments have minor and major contraindications and side effects, frequently leading to patients’ dissatisfaction and treatment discontinuation. There is thus a need to explore new therapeutic approaches that have a better efficacy over side effect profile. Targeting different pathophysiological aspects, many nondrug treatments have been tested in migraine.

Background: Previous studies during SARS and Ebola pandemics have shown that quarantine is associated with several negative psychological effects, such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, confusion, and anger. These conditions may affect the course of many diseases, including migraine. Although it is possible that the quarantine measures for the current COVID-19 pandemic affect migraine burden, no information is currently available on this issue.

Background: Case-finding tools, such as the Identify Chronic Migraine (ID-CM) questionnaire, can improve detection of CM and alleviate its significant societal burden. We aimed to develop and validate the Italian version of the ID-CM (ID-EC) in paper and as a smart app version in a headache clinic-based setting. Methods: The study investigators translated and adapted to the Italian language the original ID-CM questionnaire (ID-EC) and further implemented it as a smart app.

Introduction: Migraine is a common neurological disorder with a complex pathophysiology. It has been estimated that incidence between adults of current headache disorder is about 50%. Different studies show that this condition has an important and complex genetic component in response to drug therapy. Areas covered: This review shows and summarizes the importance of the polymorphisms associated with the major antimigraine drug metabolizing enzymes. The research of bibliographic databases has involved only published peer-reviewed articles from indexed journals.

RESULTS: The intent-to-treat population consisted of 243 patients. The nVNS group (n = 120) had a significantly greater percentage of attacks treated during the double-blind period that were pain-free at 60 (P = 0.005) and 120 min (P = 0.026) than the sham group (n = 123) did. Similar results were seen for attacks with pain relief at 60 (P = 0.025) and 120 min (P = 0.018).

Background: The PRESTO study of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS; gammaCore®) featured key primary and secondary end points recommended by the International Headache Society to provide Class I evidence that for patients with an episodic migraine, nVNS significantly increases the probability of having mild pain or being pain-free 2 h post stimulation.