Can migraines cause lesions on the brain?
Research suggests that the answer is yes. Migraines can cause lesions, which are areas of damage to the brain.
What kind of brain damage can migraines cause?
In certain cases, a migraine may come with a complication that doctors call migrainous infarction, which can lead to a stroke. In this case, brain cells die because the stroke cuts off their blood supply. This is very serious but also very rare.
Can migraines cause permanent brain damage?
Many of the patients I see with migraine are concerned that the migraine attacks or the disease is causing permanent damage. To the best of our understanding, that’s completely wrong. Migraine patients do not have to be worried about long-term brain damage. It simply doesn’t happen.
What do migraine lesions look like?
The two main types of lesions found in migraineurs include: White matter hyperintensities (WMH): These lesions appear bright white on certain sequences of MRI scans. These abnormalities can also be seen in elderly people and patients with stroke and dementia.
Do migraine lesions look like MS lesions?
MRI scans may reveal white matter lesions in young persons with migraine. These can be and are often are confused with white matter lesions due to multiple sclerosis or white matter lesions that occur in older people (periventricular white matter lesions).
Can brain lesions disappear?
Conclusions: Brainstem lesions in MS patients can disappear on subsequent imaging. Disappearing MRI lesions may delay the diagnosis. These results suggest that more weight should be given to the reported clinical brainstem events, especially in the initial diagnosis of MS.
Do migraine headaches show up on MRI?
An MRI can’t diagnose migraines, cluster, or tension headaches, but it can help doctors rule out other medical conditions that may cause your symptoms, such as: A brain tumor. An infection in your brain, called an abscess. The buildup of fluid in the brain, called hydrocephalus.
What happens when you go to a neurologist for migraines?
They’ll take a detailed medical history and ask you questions about your migraine history, since migraine diagnosis is strongly linked to medical history and reporting of symptoms. They may send you for additional tests if they want to rule out any other medical conditions.
Are brain lesions serious?
A brain lesion may involve small to large areas of your brain, and the severity of the underlying condition may range from relatively minor to life-threatening.
What do lesions on the brain indicate?
Brain lesions are a type of damage to any part of brain. Lesions can be due to disease, trauma or a birth defect. Sometimes lesions appear in a specific area of the brain. At other times, the lesions are present in a large part of the brain tissue.
Can migraines cause abnormal MRI?
White matter abnormalities (WMAs) on magnetic resonance images (MRIs) can be seen with migraine, but they are also incidental findings in normal control populations. Magnetic resonance imaging WMAs are more common in individuals with cerebrovascular risk factors.
Is migraine a neurological disease?
Migraine is a complex condition with a variety of symptoms, usually featuring a severe headache. It is one of the most common neurological conditions, affecting one person in seven.
Can brain lesions go away?
The prognosis for surviving and recovering from a brain lesion depends upon the cause. In general, many brain lesions have only a fair to poor prognosis because damage and destruction of brain tissue are frequently permanent. However, some people can reduce their symptoms with rehabilitation training and medication.
Can lesions on the brain be harmless?
That’s because there are many types of brain lesions. They can range from small to large, from few to many, from relatively harmless to life threatening.
Is migraine a symptom of MS?
Headache is not generally regarded as a symptom of MS, although it occurs in more than half of the cases of MS [5]. Whether headache is a symptom of MS onset remains an open question [5].
Can migraines show up on an MRI?
How serious are brain lesions?
What do brain lesions indicate?