Transcranial Doppler ultrasonic features in chronic tension-type headache.

We studied vascular features in patients suffering from chronic headache of the tension-type by means of transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD). Blood flow velocities of the basal cerebral arteries and the submandibular extracranial part of the internal carotid artery were compared between 20 chronic tension-type headache sufferers and the same number of age- and sex-matched control subjects. There were no significant differences of ultrasonic features between the groups. Changes in blood flow velocities do not seem to be involved in the pathogenetic mechanisms of chronic tension-type headache.