Edited by Anders Hougaard, Paolo Martelletti and Michele Viana
Collection in The Journal of Headache and Pain.
Migraine aura (MA) is a common, multifaceted and fascinating phenomenon. While the earliest known accounts of MA were provided by Hippocrates, the disorder continues to puzzle clinicians and scientists today. The knowledge of MA is constantly expanding and research into MA mechanisms has brought about new insights into the functioning of our brain. From a clinical point of view, MA is a disabling condition which can be difficult to distinguish from potentially life-threatening conditions such as transient ischemic attacks or epilepsy. Moreover, MA is related to an increased risk of major vascular events; a relation that is complex and currently not well understood.
Currently, several aspects relating to this important disorder need to be addressed:
- the pathophysiological mechanisms of MA and the relation to head pain are far from understood,
- important clinical points in the definition/classification of MA (such as an in-depth characterization of visual disturbances of MA) are missing,
- the mechanisms underlying the association between MA and increased vascular risk are unknown,
- therapeutic guidelines do not include any specific treatment for migraine aura, and
- the genetics underlying MA susceptibility are incompletely understood.
With respect to the points above, the Editor and Guest Editors of this special issue of The Journal of Headache and Pain strongly believe that headache research will benefit from a series of review articles focusing on different aspects of MA.
As the European Headache Federation (EHF) also recognizes the importance of research on migraine aura, the article-processing charges of all commissioned articles in this thematic series have been sponsored by the EHF.
Articles have undergone the journal's standard peer-review process overseen by the Editor-in-Chief.
Conflict of interest statement
A. Hougaard has received honoraria for lecturing from Allergan, Novartis, and Teva.
P. Martelletti has received grants/research support and /or honoraria or consulting fees from Allergan, Amgen, Daiicki Sankyo, Novartis, Teva, is EU expert for European Medicine Agency, is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Headache and Pain and Section Editor Medicine of Springer Nature Comprehensive Clinical Medicine.
M. Viana has nothing to declare.