Abstract

Objective: To characterize migraine in patients with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). Background: CADASIL serves as a key model of a monoallelic stroke disease. A portion of patients have coexistent migraine with aura, yet the relationship between migraine and the pathophysiology of CADASIL is poorly understood. Design/Methods: We performed a prospective study of adults with a confirmed genetic diagnosis of CADASIL, age-matched controls with migraine with aura (MA), and headache-free controls. The Migraine Disability Assessment Questionnaire (MIDAS) and Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) were used to quantify migraine-related disability. Subjects were followed for one year after enrollment. Results: We enrolled 88 subjects, which included 33 subjects with CADASIL, 32 subjects without CADASIL but with MA, and 23 control subjects without CADASIL or MA. Mean age was 53.6 (range, 22-86), 64.8% (57/88) were females, and 83% (73/88) were white. Of the CADASIL subjects, 61% (20/33) suffered from MA (CAD/+MA). Aura semiology amongst the CAD/+MA and MA patients were as follows: visual (80% vs 81%), sensory (75% vs 81%), speech (75% vs 50%), motor (30% vs 50%), brain stem (60% vs 81%) and retinal (30% vs 25%). Mean MIDAS scores at enrollment were comparable between the CAD/+MA and MA populations (32.3 vs 33.5), as were mean HIT-6 scores (56.3 vs 56.9). Discussion: These preliminary results do not show a significant difference in migraine disability between CADASIL migraineurs and chronic migraineurs. Minor differences were observed in aura distribution between the two groups, although further investigations are needed to better understand the underlying pathology of CADASIL and migraine.

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