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To study the effects of a standard acute medication withdrawal program on short-term cortical plasticity mechanisms in patients with medication overuse headache (MOH). Thirteen patients with MOH and 16 healthy volunteers underwent repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left motor cortex; in patients with MOH, recordings were performed before and after a 3-week medication withdrawal program. Ten trains of 10 stimuli each (120% resting motor threshold) were delivered at 1 Hz or 5 Hz in two separate sessions in a randomised order. Motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes were measured from the right first dorsal interosseous muscle and the slope of the linear regression line from the first to the tenth stimuli was calculated for each participant. All subjects exhibited MEP amplitude inhibition in response to 1 Hz rTMS. Alternatively, the 5-Hz trains of rTMS inhibited rather than potentiated MEP amplitudes in patients with MOH. The physiological potentiating effect of 5 Hz rTMS on MEP amplitudes was restored after drug withdrawal and in proportion with the percentage reduction in monthly headache days in patients with MOH. The results suggest that acute medication withdrawal normalises brain responses in patients with MOH. Clinical improvements after medication withdrawal may reflect the reversal of neurophysiological dysfunction. Accordingly, medication withdrawal should be offered to patients with MOH as early as possible in order to prevent the development of more pronounced alterations in brain plasticity.

The most common mononeuropathy in the lower extremity involves the nerve. We retrospectively evaluated the etiological predisposing factors and clinical-neurophysiological features of 36 patients affected by peroneal mononeuropathy (PM). In 30 patients, a clear predisposing factor was identified. PM was more frequently perioperative (11 cases), associated with axonal involvement. Unexpectedly, PM was not only due to surgery close to the peroneal region, but was mostly associated with hip surgery and, rarely, with thoracic-abdominal surgery. A postural predisposing factor of PM was also frequently observed, usually associated with a pure conduction block. Conversely, most patients with bedridden predisposing factor presented axonal involvement, which was rarely associated with conduction block. In 25 of 36 PM cases, a long-term follow-up lead to an improvement (12 cases) or to good recovery (13 cases) of PM. In conclusion, our study shows that: (1) in most PM cases it is possible to identify a predisposing factor; (2) there is a good correlation between predisposing factor and neurophysiological involvement, and (3) PM usually has usually a good prognosis.