[Hemicrania and cerebral ischemia in young adults]

A retrospective study was conducted on a young adults population affected by permanent symptoms of cerebral focal ischemia. Within 6 years, 24 patients between the ages of twenty and fifty were admitted to the Neurological and Medical department of our Hospital because of cerebral ischemic stroke. In 7 (29.2%) there was a previous history of common or classic migraine. No patients suffered headache at the time of neurologic deficit onset. In the other 17 patients in the study, 6 (25%) had valvular heart disease, 2 (8.3%) had signs suggestive of vasculitis, 2 (8.3%) had a story of head and neck injury, and in the remaining 7 (29.2%) patients no discernible etiology was demonstrated. Our data confirm the hypothesis that migraine may be considered an etiologic factor for persistent cerebral ischemia in young adults.