Migraine and TIAs; possibly more overlap than difference

Headache and transient neurological deficits can occur both in patients with migraine and in patients suffering a transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Consequently differentiating between these two disorders may be difficult. Recently, silent cerebral infarcts and ischaemic lesions in the subcortical white matter were found to be associated with migraine and in particular, with migraine with aura. The predominance of cerebellar infarcts in these patients is difficult to understand. Whether ischaemic damage in the brain of patients with migraine should be managed in a manner similar to that of patients with TIAs, should be the subject of future research.