Migraine is a potent risk factor for cerebral artery dissection, especially intracranial vertebral artery dissection, and the intracranial vertebral artery may be more susceptible to dissection compared to arteries of anterior circulation.
Among patients with cervicocerebral artery dissection and recorded migraine history, the vast majority presented with isolated headache rather than stroke.
Intracranial vertebral artery dissection was by far the most common location of cervicocerebral artery dissection in patients with migraine history.
Migraine was present in a high proportion of patients with vertebral artery dissection, while it was less common among patients with anterior circulation dissection.
The study concludes that migraine is a potent risk factor for cerebral artery dissection, with particular susceptibility in the intracranial vertebral artery.
This research suggests that migraines may be an important risk factor for a rare but serious condition called cervicocerebral artery dissection, which occurs when a tear develops in the wall of an artery supplying the brain. The researchers looked back through medical records of 62 patients who had both an artery dissection and a documented history of migraine. They found that more than 9 out of 10 of these patients experienced severe headache as their main symptom, while only a small fraction had a stroke. The vast majority of dissections — over 90% — occurred in the vertebral artery, a blood vessel at the back of the neck and brain. The study also found that among patients with vertebral artery dissection, nearly three-quarters had a migraine history, compared to only one in four patients whose dissection occurred in arteries supplying the front of the brain. This suggests that the vertebral artery may be particularly vulnerable to dissection in people who experience migraines, possibly due to differences in how migraines affect blood vessel walls in different parts of the brain. This research matters because it highlights migraine as a potential warning sign or contributing factor for a condition that can cause stroke or severe headache. The findings could encourage clinicians to pay closer attention to artery dissection as a possible diagnosis in migraine patients who present with unusual or particularly severe headaches. Because this was a retrospective study — meaning it looked at existing records rather than following patients over time — further research would be needed to fully establish the nature of the relationship between migraine and artery dissection.
Kashihara K, Hamaguchi T, Takeda Y. (2026). The Impact of Migraine on Cerebral Artery Dissection.. Acta medica Okayama. https://doi.org/10.18926/AMO/71065