Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in migraine patients

Patients with migraine commonly show vestibular symptoms. However, abnormal neurotological test findings during the inter-attack intervals, even in the absence of vestibular symptoms, are suggestive of subclinical vestibular dysfunction in migraine. This study aimed to compare the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials between migraine patients and normal individuals. Subjects included 25 patients with migraine and 26 healthy volunteers with an age range of 20-53 years old. The vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were recorded with 500 Hz tone bursts at 95 dB nHL. Mean of absolute amplitude and p13 latency values in the migraine group were significantly less and more than the normal group, respectively (p=0.001 for absolute amplitude in right and left ears; p=0.004 for p13 latency in right ears and p=0.02 in left ears). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in mean of the n23 latency and also the amplitude ratio (p>0.05). According to the prolonged latency of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials response, vestibulospinal tract in brainstem is probably involved in migraine patients. However, due to small sample size, for generalizing this result to all patients with migraine, further researches are needed.