Abdominal migraine reviewed from both central and peripheral aspects

Abstract

Despite the 2%-5% prevalence of abdominal migraine (AM) during childhood, the precise mechanism remains unknown. In this review, we present recent studies on AM and speculate its mechanism from both peripheral and central nervous system aspects. Although the main symptoms of AM exist at the peripheral level, previous studies have reported possible dysfunction of central nervous system, including photophobia, phonophobia and abnormal visual evoked responses. Recently, a case has been reported with AM combined with "Alice in Wonderland" syndrome with visual and/or bodily distortions, which serves as another piece of evidence of central dysfunction. Another case reported an AM patient having peculiar stereotypical ecchymosis in the legs and buttocks associated with pain attack, which implied possible involvement of peripheral nervous system. Although further investigations and accumulation of AM cases are still needed, we believe that the schema hypothesized here is helpful to plan further experimental approach to clarify the mechanism of this peculiar disease.