Migraine

Migraines are common in patients with HHT (23%), but also affect the general population (10%). It concerns particularly migraine with aura (flashes or sounds). The cause of migraine is, in general, not well understood, but in HHT it can be related to the presence of pulmonary vascular malformations. Treatment of these malformations may diminish the frequency of migraine.

Probably small clots or unknown substances in the larger veins of the body slip through the PAVMs, lodge in the brain and cause migraine. The theses of Dr. M.C. Post and Dr. M. van Gent (St. Antonius Hospital, 2006 and 2010) supports this theory. Patients with "a hole in the heart" also often have migraines which disappear after closure of the hole. The same was found in patients with a "hole in their lung", a PAVM.