Migraine: Clinical Features, Mechanisms and Management.

Dr. Pearce has attempted in this short monograph to explain the multiple aspects of migraine. He puts migraine into historical perspective and then discusses its epidemiology and precipitating factors. Emphasis is placed upon the chemistry and physiology of migraine. The author stresses the rhythmicity of attacks and discusses the possibility of a mechanism involving disturbances of the limbic system and the hypothalamus through which some precipitating factors might operate. The author evaluates metabolic disturbances in migraine, abnormalities of tissue biochemistry, and suggests the possibility that the primary disturbance exists in the central nervous system. Current research with reserpine induced headache, serotonin and vasomotor reflexes, vasoneuroactive substances and their implications, and circulatory studies in migraine are all reviewed. However, this book oversimplifies the clinical picture of migraine in its attempt to encompass this complex disorder in such a short space. We have few glimpses of the author's personal experiences in treating