Vestibular migraine pathophysiology: insights from structural and functional neuroimaging

Vestibular migraine (VM) has been increasingly recognized as a frequent cause of episodic vertigo, affecting up to 1 % of the general population, with female preponderance. Recently, both the Bárány Society and the Migraine Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society have proposed original diagnostic criteria for VM, which have been included in the recent edition of the ICHD-3 beta version. VM diagnosis implies that vestibular symptoms are present during a migraine attack, with or without headache, in the absence of objectively demonstrated interictal vestibulopathy. Nevertheless, despite a growing body of literature, there is still an ongoing debate regarding whether VM origin is principally central or peripheral. However, during the past few years, the extensive application of advanced MRI techniques has contributed to significantly improve the understanding VM pathophysiology. Functional and structural abnormalities have been detected in brain areas involved in multisensory vestibular control and central vestibular processing in patients with VM. In this brief review, we will focus on these recent neuroimaging findings.