Although migraine is an accepted cause of cerebral infarction in adults, this association is less well recognized in children. We present two children with migraine and cerebral infarction, which we regard as migrainous stroke, though neither patient fulfills all criteria of the International Headache Society for the diagnosis of migrainous infarction. Review of the literature concerning examples of migraine-associated stroke in childhood suggests that these criteria are too restrictive to comprise the majority of migrainous strokes, especially in this age group. (J Child Neurol 1999; 14:451-455).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Schoenberg BS , Mellinger JF, Schoenberg DG: Cerebrovascular disease in infants and children: A study of incidence, clinical features, and survival . Neurology1978;28:763-768.
2.
Biller J, Mathews KD, Love BB (eds): Stroke in Children and Young Adults. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1994.
3.
Garcia JH, Pantoni L.: Strokes in childhood. SemPediatr Neurol1995 ;2:180-191.
Welch Kma, Levine SR: Migraine-related stroke in the context of the International Headache Society classification of head pain. Arch Neurol1990 ;47:458-462.
11.
Olesen J., Friberg L., Olsen TS, et al: Ischaemia-induced (symptomatic) migraine attacks may be more frequent than migraine-induced ischaemic insults. Brain1993;116:187-202.
12.
Spaccavento LJ, Solomon GD: Migraine as an etiology of stroke in young adults. Headache1984;24:19-22.
Rascol A., Cambier J., Guiraud B., et al: Accidents ischémiques cérébraux au cours de crises migraineuses . Rev Neurol (Paris)1979; 135:867-884.
15.
Castaldo JE , Anderson M., Reeves AG: Middle cerebral artery occlusion with migraine . Stroke1982;13:308-311.
16.
Hilton-Jones D., Warlow CP: The causes of stroke in the young . J Neurol1985;232:137-143.
17.
Rossi LN, Penzien JM, Deonna T., et al: Does migraine-related stroke occur in childhood?Dev Med Child Neurol1990;32: 1016-1021.
18.
Caplan LR: Migraine and vertebrobasilar ischemia. Neurology1991;41:55-61.
19.
Riikonen R., Santavuori P.: Hereditary and acquired risk factors for childhood stroke. Neuropediatrics1994;25:227-233.
20.
Wöber-Bingöl C., Wöber C., Karwautz A., et al: Migraine and stroke in childhood and adolescence. Cephalalgia1995;15:26-30.
21.
Garg BP, De Myer WE: Ischemic thalamic infarction in children: Clinical presentation, etiology, and outcome. Pediatr Neurol1995; 13:46-49.
22.
Nezu A., Kimura S., Ohtsuhi N., et al: Acute confusional migraine and migrainous infarction in childhood . Brain Dev1997;19: 148-151.
23.
Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society: Classification and diagnostic criteria for headache disorders, cranial neuralgias and facial pain. Cephaialgia1988;8(Suppl 7):1-93.
24.
Vestergaard K., Andersen G., Nielsen MI, Jensen TS: Headache in stroke . Stroke1993;24:1621-1624.
25.
Bartleson JD : Transient and persistent neurological manifestations of migraine. Stroke1984;15:383-386.
26.
Bille B.: Migraine in school children. Acta Paediatr1962;51(Suppl 136):1-151.
27.
Pothmann R.: Migräne bei Kindem, in Ensink FBM , Soyka D (eds): Migräne . Berlin, Springer, 1994, pp 477-500.
28.
Eggers C.: Akute Hemisyndrome im Kindesalter. Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr1977;45:168-186.
29.
Barlow CF: Headaches and Migraine in Childhood. Oxford, Spastics International Medical Publications, 1984.
30.
Welch Kma: Migraine, a biobehavioral disorder. Arch Neurol1987;44:323-327.
31.
Rothrock J. , North J., Madden K., et al: Migraine and migrainous stroke. Neurology1993;43:2473-2476.
32.
Post RM, Silberstein SD: Shared mechanisms in affective illness, epilepsy and migraine. Neurology1994;44(Suppl 7):S37-S47.
33.
Leão Aap: Spreading depression of activity in the cerebral cortex. J Neurophysiol1944;7:359-390.
34.
Lauritzen M. : Pathophysiology of the migraine aura. Brain1994;117: 199-210.
35.
Moskowitz MA : The neurobiology of vascular head pain. Ann Neurol1984;16:157-168.
36.
Welch Kma, D'Andrea G., Tepley N., et al: The concept of migraine as a state of central neuronal hyperexcitability . Neurol Clin1990; 8:817-828.
37.
Rothman SM, Olney JW: Excitotoxicity and the NMDA receptor. Trends Neurosci1987;10:299-302.
38.
Moen M., Levine SR, Newman DS, et al: Bilateral posterior cerebral artery strokes in a young migraine sufferer. Stroke1988; 19: 525-528.
39.
Buring JE, Hebert P., Romero J., et al: Migraine and subsequent risk of stroke in the physicians' health study. Arch Neurol1995;52: 129-134.
40.
Merikangas KR, Fenton BT, Cheng SH, et al: Association between migraine and stroke in a large-scale epidemiological study of the United States. Arch Neurol1997;54:362-368.
41.
Tzourio C., Iglesias S., Hubert J-B., et al: Migraine and risk of ischaemic stroke: A case-control study . BMJ1993;307:289-292.
42.
Silvestrini M., Matteis M., Troisi E., et al: Migrainous stroke and the antiphospholipid antibodies. Eur Neurol1994;34:316-319.
43.
Peroutka SJ : Genetic basis of migraine. Clin Neurosci1998;5:34-37.
44.
May A., Ophoff RA, Terwindt GM, et al: Familial hemiplegic migraine locus 19p13 is involved in the common forms of migraine with and without aura. Hum Genet1995;96:604-608.
