Blood Magnesium Levels in Migraine

Serum and erythrocyte magnesium levels were screened between attacks in patients with migraine without aura (n = 38) and with aura (n = 6), and for comparison in a group of patients suffering from chronic tension-type headache (n = 25) as well as a group of neurological, non-headache patients (n = 19). Serum magnesium levels were not significantly different between the four groups of patients. In contrast, magnesium in erythrocytes was on average significantly reduced in patients with migraine without aura compared to the other groups. It is hypothesized that this reduction might be due to an abnormal regulation of intracellular magnesium possibly reflecting at the periphery changes observed in the brain of migraineurs

Increased Parasellar Activity on Gallium Spect Is Not Specific for Active Cluster Headache

We have performed Gallium SPECT head scans in 30 successive cluster headache (CH) patients and in 7 migraineurs without aura. Parasellar hyperactivity was judged as present in 81% of chronic CH patients, 54% of episodic CH patients in an active period, 56% of episodic CH patients in remission and 71% of migraineurs. No significant correlations were found between the SPECT images and the duration of the disease, of cluster periods or of remissions. Increased parasellar activity on Gallium SPECT is thus not specific for CH, nor for the active period of episodic CH. The method lacks reliability for investigation of putative cavernous sinus inflammation

Myositis during Borrelia burgdorferi infection (Lyme disease).

During the second stage of an illness caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a young woman developed a myopathic syndrome characterised by severe muscular pains, incapacitating weakness of the proximal limb and the neck, as well as the bulbar muscles and elevated serum CK levels. Muscle biopsy revealed a non-inflammatory necrotising myopathy. B. burgdorferi infection was confirmed by a considerable rise of specific IgG antibodies. A course of high dose steroids alleviated the myalgias, but paresis began to improve only after treatment with antibiotics. Our observations confirm that B burgdorferi can cause, through an undertermined mechanism, a necrotising myopathy, in addition to the wide spectrum of already known neurological complications