[Basilar artery migraine associated with transient global amnesia]

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is an unusual form of the amnestic syndrome, clinically characterized by profound disturbance of short-term memory with preservation of immediate recall and long-term memory. Spontaneous recovery is the rule and is usually complete within several hours. The etiology of TGA is not clear. It is considered to be caused by transient ischemia confined to the medial temporal lobe, an area supplied by branches of the vertebrobasilar system. Basilar artery migraine is a well-known syndrome, first described by Bickerstaff. Besides pulsating headache, the dominant symptoms are vertigo, ataxic gait, tinnitus, dysarthria, paraeshesia in the hands, homonymous hemianopsia and sometimes drop-attacks. These symptoms are associated with vertebrobasilar system dysfunction. In this paper, three migraine patients, suffering from one episode of TGA, were reported. All patients were women. Case 1 was a 48-year-old woman with a history of common migraine. Case 2 was a 48-year-old woman with a history of classic migraine. Case 3 was a 59-year-old woman with a common migraine. Family history of migraine exists in case 1 and case 3. Their migrainous attacks began in their twenties and thirties. They suddenly suffered migraine with the symptoms of vertebrobasilar dysfunction. These symptoms are ataxic gait (Case 1, 2, 3), dysarthria (Case 1, 2), vertigo (Case 1, 3) and homonymous hemianopsia (Case 1, 3). Simultaneously three patients had TGA. Duration of retrograde amnesia were about twenty-four hours (Case 1), about thirty minutes (Case 2) and about three hours (Case 3).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)