Incidences of aortic and mitral valve strands in patients with migraine with aura.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the potential association between valvular strands and migraine with aura.


METHODS
During a 1-year period,transesophageal echocardiography was performed in 51 consecutive patients with migraine with aura and 75 control subjects who underwent transesophageal echocardiography for other purposes and had no history of migraine. The presence of aortic and mitral valve strands was evaluated.


RESULTS
The incidence of valvular strands was 21.5% (11/51) in migraine patients and 28.0% (21/75) in control subjects (Χ²=0.663, P=0.416). The incidence of patent foramen ovale was significantly higher in patients with migraine with aura than in control subjects (50.9% vs.29.3%) (Χ²=6.302, P=0.012). The incidence of aortic valve strands was significantly higher than that of mitral valve strands in migraine patients (Χ²=4.320,P=0.038).


CONCLUSIONS
Valvular strands are not associated with migraine with aura and show little clinical significance.
Department of Ultrasound, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Ya-nan
YN
Zhai
Department of Ultrasound, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Yue
Y
Li
Department of Ultrasound, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Li-qun
LQ
Wei
Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100048, China.
Mei-qing
MQ
Zhang
Department of Ultrasound, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Hong-quan
HQ
Lu
Department of Ultrasound, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Li
L
Zhang
D001011:Aorta; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D054092:Foramen Ovale, Patent; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D020325:Migraine with Aura; D020326:Migraine without Aura; D008943:Mitral Valve