Alternate finger tapping test in patients with migraine

Abstract

Migraine patients are thought to show some cognitive dysfunction and slight structural abnormalities in the white matter of the brain, whereas most patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are known to have numerous white matter lesions, often affecting the corpus callosum. To demonstrate psychomotor dysfunction, an alternate finger tapping task (a-FTT) on a PC was administered to controls (n = 41), migraine patients (n = 25), and multiple sclerosis patients (n = 22). Five MS patients with secondary callosal atrophy detected by MRI were also investigated as a separate group. Significant slowing was demonstrated in migraine (P = 0.0005) and MS (P<0.0001). The poorest test results were found in patients with callosal atrophy. In summary, a-FTT on a PC is able to detect minimal psychomotor dysfunction in migraine.