Migraine Equivalents

Abstract

There is ample evidence that vasodilatation of blood vessels with an altered contractile state, probably following a vasoconstrictive phase, is associated with migraine.

The author discusses conditions known as migraine equivalents in which this vascular dysfunction apparently produces clinical manifestations that do not conform to the classic migraine syndrome.

In diagnosing migraine equivalents, it is most important to remember that they may be symptomatic of organic disease of the central nervous system.