Bilateral occipital lobe infarction in acute migraine: clinical, neurophysiological, and neuroradiological study

A woman having common migraine attacks coincident with an asymmetrical bilateral occipital lobe infarction that spared the brainstem and cerebellum underwent these studies: serial electroencephalography, brainstem auditory, visual and somatosensory evoked potentials, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and cerebral arteriography. The patient's vision improved greatly during a one-year follow-up. The absence of risk factors for stroke suggested that migraine caused the infarction in the posterior circulation network. The pathophysiological mechanisms of stroke in migraine remains speculative.