Are CO2 laser evoked potentials a specific marker of migraine?

Although neurophysiological studies have made a considerable contribution to understanding of migraine pathophysiology, the diagnosis of migraine continues to be based on clinical examination of the patient, which also includes careful history taking and a search for neurological signs. Indeed, no instrumental technique has ever disclosed specific features in migraineurs, able to distinguish them from healthy subjects or from patients with non-migraine headache. CO2 laser evoked potentials (LEPs) have been used in migraine research in the past three years, proving very useful for demonstrating functional abnormalities of the central nociceptive system which might be linked to the pathophysiological mechanisms of this disease. However, like other neurophysiological methods, LEP recording in migraineurs has not revealed abnormalities specific enough to allow diagnosis of migraine in individual subjects.