Investigation of neuromuscular transmission in some rare types of migraine

Abstract

The aim of this study was to delineate any dysfunction of neuromuscular transmission (NMT) by single-fibre electromyography (SFEMG) in some rare types of migraine. Recent studies have shown subclinical dysfunction of NMT in migraine with aura and cluster headache by using SFEMG, whereas another recent study has shown NMT to be normal in familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) with CACNA1A mutations. Thirty patients with rare primary headache syndromes [18 with sporadic hemiplegic migraine (SHM), six with FHM and six with basilar-type migraine (BM)] and 15 healthy control subjects without any headache complaints underwent nerve conduction studies, EMG and SFEMG during voluntary contraction of the extensor digitorum communis muscle. Ten to 20 different potential pairs were recorded and individual jitter values calculated. The results obtained from patient groups were compared with those from the normal subjects. Of 600 individual jitter values of the patients, 27 (4.5%) were abnormally high, whereas only 3/205 (1.5%) jitter values from normal subjects were abnormal. Abnormal NMT was found in 4/30 (13.3%) patients (three SHM and one BM), but in none of the control subjects. Only in SHM patients was the number of individual abnormal jitter values slightly but significantly different from normal controls. The present study demonstrates that subclinical NMT abnormality is slightly present in only SHM and BM patients, but not in FHM patients.