Painful Scalp Arteries in Migraine
100 Consecutive migraine patients were examined for pressure-painful arteries in the scalp. 84 Patients were female and 16 male. 30 Individuals that had never suffered with headache or migraine were also investigated, as a control group in the study.
The yellow dots in the adjacent image show some of these pressure points. A labelled image can be found in our Migraine Image Library at this link.
51 Of the patients were examined during a migraine attack, and 45 of these, or 88.2%, reported one or more painful arteries after pressure to the scalp was applied. 6 Patients, or 11.8% reported no painful arteries.
75 of the migraine patients were examined between migraine attacks, when they were not in pain. 60 Of these patients, or 80.0%, still reported one or more painful arteries after pressure to the scalp was applied. The remaining 15 patients, or 20.0%, reported no painful arteries.
Of 30 healthy individuals in the control group that had never suffered with migraine, only 9, or 30%, reported painful arteries when pressure to the scalp was applied.
View the original migraine study at this link: Painful Scalp Arteries in Migraine
- ” The presence of pressure-painful scalp arteries did not differ in relation to the presence of aura, migraine frequency, or disease duration.”
- “However, a lesser percentage of migraineurs do not present painful scalp arteries, suggesting that in those cases other structures, such as the intracranial neurovascular structures, are involved in the pain process.”
- “Painful arteries suggest hypersensitivity of periarterial nociceptive afferents, which is perhaps due to the presence locally of endogenous algogenic products.”
