Hematological parameters, imaging results and correlation of these findings with clinical in primary headache diagnosed patients

Objectives: Headache is the most common and difficult clinical problem in society. It is classified as primary and secondary according to the underlying pathology. It is also known that there is a relationship between hematological parameters and headache. White matter lesions (WML) are known to be more common in migraine. In this study we aimed to compare the hematologic parameters of migraine and tension type headache (TTH) diagnosed patients with the most common primary headache and to correlate these parameters with headache characteristics. Our another aim is to compare the WML number in migraine and TTH patients with cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to assess the correlation of these lesions with hematologic parameters and headache characteristics. Materials and Methods: Neurology patients in Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Hospital in between December 1, 2015 and December 1, 2016 were retrospectively observed. The study included 639 patients aged 18-65 years, with 272 migraine and 323 tension-type headache diagnosed according to the IHS 2013 Beta version. Patients with systemic disease, drug use, and pregnancy have been eliminated from the study. The initial haematological parameters were studied. Patients with MRI have been examined separately. Findings: Patients have been classified according to headache types. Age, sex, pain frequency, severity, hematologic parameters have been recorded. 19 GTBA patients and 26 migraine patients with white matter lesions were also evaluated. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of hematologic parameters (p>0,05) and there was a negative correlation between pain frequency and headacheseverity (p<0,05). WML number in migraine was detected more but not statistically significant. At the same time, in migraine patients with WML, hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV were positively correlated with the frequency of attacks (p<0,05). Conclusion:WML was more frequent in migraine group when there was no difference between hematological parameters in two headache types. The incidence of pain increased in correlation with the elevation of hemoglobin, hematocrit and MCV values in migraine groups with lesions.Hemogram monitoring in migraine patients; can be useful for following lesion development. Key words: migraine, tension type headache, hematological parameters, white matter lesions