Time course of cerebral perfusion changes in children with migraine with aura mimicking stroke

Abstract

Hemiplegic migraine is a common cause of acute brain attack in pediatrics. MR imaging sequences useful in differentiating hemiplegic migraine from other entities include arterial spin-labeling, SWI, MRA, and DWI. There has been limited exploration on the simultaneous use of these sequences in pediatrics. We present 12 pediatric patients with acute hemiplegic migraine or migraine with aura who underwent MR imaging within 12 hours of symptom onset. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on arterial spin-labeling; and qualitative analysis, on SWI and MRA sequences. All 12 patients had normal DWI and abnormal arterial spin-labeling findings. Furthermore, we observed a more rapid transition from hypoperfusion to rebound hyperperfusion in 3 patients compared with prior reports. These findings support the use of multimodal MR imaging to distinguish migraine with aura from stroke and the simultaneous use of these MR imaging sequences to improve understanding of perfusion changes during migraine with aura.