Mark ObermannEditorial on the Research Topic
Vestibular migraine (VM) is now the accepted name for vestibular symptoms that are causally related to migraine. The International Headache Society and the International Bárány Society for Neurootology together have developed a consensus document with diagnostic criteria for VM (1), but the existence and the relation to migraine is still disputed by some clinicians and researchers alike. Our research topic VM tried to shed more light on the clinical features as well as pathophysiological origin of this interesting and unique disorder. Different aspects of this disorder were highlighted and included genetics, pathophysiology, clinical phenotype in adults and children, diagnostic findings, as well as treatment options. There are solid indications that VM shares at least some pathophysiological features with migraine, but also entails some unique features that separate it from migraine with or without aura and underline its claim as specific disease entity.
For those that acknowledge the existence, VM is considered the most common cause of recurrent spontaneous vertigo attacks. It has a lifetime prevalence of about 1% and a one-year prevalence of 0.9% in the general population (2) and accounts for about 7% of patients seen in dizziness clinics and 9% of patients seen in migraine clinics (3). Nevertheless, it is still underdiagnosed and not well understood. It has been proposed that VM has a genetic cause, namely an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance with decreased penetrance in men (4), but a lot of research is needed to further clarify its underlying pathophysiology and the relation to migraine in this regard. Clinical studies on specific diagnostic clues and therapeutic agents specific for the treatment of VM only just started and will have to be intensified in the future.
Author Contributions
The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and approved it for publication.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
1. Lempert T, Olesen J, Furman J, Waterston J, Seemungal B, Carey J, et al. Vestibular migraine: diagnostic criteria. J Vestib Res (2012) 22(4):167–72. doi: 10.3233/VES-2012-0453
2. Vuković V, Plavec D, Galinović I, Lovrencić-Huzjan A, Budisić M, Demarin V. Prevalence of vertigo, dizziness, and migrainous vertigo in patients with migraine. Headache (2007) 47(10):1427–35. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4610.2007.00939.x
3. Neuhauser HK, von Brevern M, Radtke A, Lezius F, Feldmann M, Ziese T, et al. Epidemiology of vestibular vertigo: a neurotologic survey of the general population. Neurology (2005) 65(6):898–904. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000175987.59991.3d
Keywords: vertigo, vestibular migraine, headache, neuro-otology, dizziness
Citation: Obermann M (2017) Editorial: Vestibular Migraine. Front. Neurol. 8:213. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00213
Received: 16 March 2017; Accepted: 02 May 2017;
Published: 19 May 2017
Edited and Reviewed by: Cristina Tassorelli, University of Pavia, Italy
Copyright: © 2017 Obermann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Mark Obermann, mark.obermann@uk-essen.de