[Severe migraine accompagnée with computer tomographic findings]

Migraine accompagnée is associated with cerebral signs of irritation or failure, aphasic or paraphasic disturbances and Jacksonian attacks which appear together with the migraine attack. Present-day ideas on the pathogenesis of migraine headache indicate that such cerebral focal signs should be ascribed to vessel-dependent changes with transitory ischaemia. The article reports on a 24-year-old woman patient who had three Jacksonian attacks within a severe attack of migraine besides neurological signs originating from various cerebrovascular areas, as well as certain mental anomalies; this patient had a previous history of migraine with familial affiliations. The computerized tomogram, produced on the 5th day of disease, showed frontally-paramedially a zone with unsharp outlines without enhancement after administration of a contrast medium. All neurological signs, including the Jacksonian attacks, gradually receded in the course of time. Extensive additional diagnosis was performed, including angiography, to exclude any other underlying disease which could have been made responsible for the observed symptoms.