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Title: Heart defect the cause? Post by jmorgan52 on Jan 17th, 2005, 3:02am I know this is migraine related but could it also be CH related? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/17/nache17.xml A simple heart operation could cure migraines, doctors claim today. They believe there is a direct link between a minor heart defect, present in up to a quarter of the population, and migraine, which affects one in 10 adults. When patients had a procedure to close a "hole-in-the-heart", some reported that their migraines had disappeared or had been reduced in severity or frequency. The finding is to be investigated in a controlled trial. Dr Andrew Dowson, director of the Headache Service at King's College Hospital, south London, said yesterday: "While many treatments help to control symptoms, as yet there is no cure for migraine. If the trial supports our theories about a migraine attack, it could be the most significant development in treatment for more than a decade." If successful, the procedure could benefit about two million migraine sufferers. The heart defect is known as patent foramen ovale (PFO). It rarely affects health and most people live their lives unaware that they have it. About 20 years ago it was found by chance that, in divers, there was a link between PFO and migraine attacks. When they needed a PFO closure to treat decompression sickness, those who suffered migraine reported that attacks had stopped. More recently PFO has become associated with an increased risk of stroke, and interest in migraine in the general population has been renewed. With PFO, a flap between the two upper chambers of the heart fails to close completely at birth. This allows balls of deoxygenated blood in the right atrium to pass into the left atrium, where they mix with the oxygenated blood being pumped to all parts of the body including the brain. These balls of blood have not been filtered properly and can carry with them bits of a clot or chemicals. It is this, the doctors speculate, that could trigger the migraine attacks if they reach the brain. Dr Dowson and his colleagues have received ethical approval for a trial of 200 people with PFO and migraine and they want to hear from volunteers. They will need to suffer from severe migraine with aura (visual disturbances) or have had at least two attacks of migraine with aura and be patients for whom drugs have not worked. Half of those accepted for the trial will have the hole closed using a safe, well-tried procedure used to prevent strokes. This involves passing two tiny "umbrellas" via a small cut in the groin, through the femoral vein to the right atrium of the heart. They are opened on either side of the hole to form a barrier and close the gap. The other half of the group will be given a small cut in the groin so that they think they have had the operation. The control group will ensure that any fall in migraine attacks cannot be put down to people simply imagining they have got better. Dr Peter Wilmshurst, a cardiologist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, is a leading researcher in PFO and migraine. He said the PFO theory went against what neurologists believe to be the causes of migraine and they claim that the disappearance of migraine after PFO closure is a placebo effect. |
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Title: Re: Heart defect the cause? Post by guesst on Jan 17th, 2005, 1:30pm You and Carl D need to sit down and talk about this one, he has a theory ( that IMHO holds water). |
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Title: Re: Heart defect the cause? Post by Kirk on Jan 17th, 2005, 2:32pm More likely the hole in my head. [smiley=smokin.gif] |
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