[Complicated migraine: apropos of 3 cases]

After brief considerations about complicated migraine, three cases are reported. The diagnosis was made by the clinical features and by computed tomography. The term complicated migraine must be reserved for those cases in which the neurological symptoms and signs outlast migraine attack for more than 24 hours or in which permanent deficit develops because of cerebral or brainstem infarction. Other criteria for diagnosis is the presence of infarction in CT scanning, although prolonged or permanent deficit are absent. The possible role of platelet aggregation, vascular spasm and increased coagulability of the blood, as the cause of infarction, is discussed. All the patients in this report showed prolonged neurological deficit and infarction in CT scanning.