Tortuosity of carotid and vertebral arteries: a magnetic resonance angiographic study.

Nine patients (group A) were found on magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to have excessive carotid artery, vertebral artery, and vertebrobasilar junction tortuosity. A control group (group B) were age- and sex-matched to group A patients, were selected randomly from our MRA or stroke data banks, and had not undergone MRA for evaluation of migraine, "carotidynia," or pulsatile tinnitus. Factors more prevalent in group A patients included migraine, chronic daily headache, carotidynia, pulsatile tinnitus, and a positive family history of headache. Factors more prevalent in group B patients included a positive family history of stroke, large-vessel atherosclerosis, and scan evidence of ischemic infarctions; many group B patients had undergone MRA for stroke or transient ischemic attack evaluation. Men were slightly underrepresented at 44%, and were younger than women (34 +/- 6 years vs. 43 +/- 3 years; p = 0.01). Relationships in this preliminary study between arterial tortuosity and migraine seem evident.