Migraine preventive therapy, even in the absence of a headache, is given in an attempt to reduce the frequency, duration, or severity of attacks. Circumstances that might warrant preventive treatment include disabling migraine attacks, the overuse of acute medications or failure of or contraindication to acute medications, troublesome side effects from medication, hemiplegic migraine, or very f...

Migraine is a common episodic headache disorder; prevalence of migraine in most western countries is 10-12%. The mechanism of migraine pain development is not fully understood. The theory of neurogenic inflammation proposes that the main event is the inflammation in the vessel wall which leads to leakage of nociceptive substances, causing thickening of the vessel wall and dilatation of vascular...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Migraine is a prevalent neurovascular brain disorder with a strong genetic component, and different methodological approaches have been implemented to identify the genes involved. This review focuses on pearls and pitfalls of these approaches and genetic findings in migraine. SUMMARY Common forms of migraine (i.e. migraine with and without aura) are thought to have a polygen...