Nearly half of patients with migraine with aura are found to have a heart defect, study finds

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7520.800-d

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ research articles:

From

Limit by

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

Roger Dobson

Abergavenny

A study has found that nearly half of a group of patients with long term migraine with aura had a heart defect. The defect was a right to left shunt caused by a patent foramen ovale.

The study, by cardiologists and neurologists at University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland, appeared online ahead of print publication on 7 September in Neurology (www.neurology.org/papbyrecent.html). It used transoesophageal contrast echocardiography to examine the participants.

The study looked at a group of 93 patients who had had migraine with aura for an average of 18.5 years and 93 healthy control patients …