Gastric stasis occurs in spontaneous, visually induced, and interictal migraine.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate and compare gastric motility and emptying during spontaneous migraine to previous observations from induced migraine.

BACKGROUND

We have previously demonstrated a delay in gastric emptying both during the interictal period and during an induced migraine. A limitation noted in these studies was whether there are differences gastrointestinally during a visually induced migraine compared to spontaneous migraines. To address this, 9 additional studies have been performed to ascertain if there is a similar delay during spontaneous migraine

METHODS

Gastric scintigraphy using a standard meal was performed in 3 subjects during 3 periods: spontaneous migraine, induced migraine, and interictal period.

RESULTS

On average, the time to half emptying was delayed during spontaneous migraine (124 minutes), during induced migraine (182 minutes), and during the interictal period migraine (243 minutes) compared to normative values established at our center (112 minutes). On average, similar gastric slowing was seen in all 3 groups when the percentage of nuclear material remaining in the stomach at 2 hours was measured.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides additional evidence of gastric stasis in migraineurs interictally during induced and spontaneous migraine.