Abstract
A 49 year old woman reported an attack of transient neurological dysfunction associated with unilateral headache. A prominent feature of the aura was a period of complete achromatopsia, so that the visual scene was experienced in monochrome. The episode developed to include features of prosopagnosia and spatial agnosia before resolving completely. Other episodes of transient neurological dysfunction followed at regular intervals until prophylactic antimigrainous therapy was initiated. Four vessel cerebral angiography and MRI of the brain were normal. Possible causes of this unusual migrainous aura are discussed with reference to current concepts of cerebral localisation.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Cohn R., Neumann M. A., Wood D. H. Prosopagnosia: a clinicopathological study. Ann Neurol. 1977 Feb;1(2):177–182. doi: 10.1002/ana.410010213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hachinski V. C., Porchawka J., Steele J. C. Visual symptoms in the migraine syndrome. Neurology. 1973 Jun;23(6):570–579. doi: 10.1212/wnl.23.6.570. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hupp S. L., Kline L. B., Corbett J. J. Visual disturbances of migraine. Surv Ophthalmol. 1989 Jan-Feb;33(4):221–236. doi: 10.1016/0039-6257(82)90149-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Klee A., Willanger R. Disturbances of visual perception in migraine. Review of the literature and a report of eight cases. Acta Neurol Scand. 1966;42(4):400–414. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meadows J. C. Disturbed perception of colours associated with localized cerebral lesions. Brain. 1974 Dec;97(4):615–632. doi: 10.1093/brain/97.1.615. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meadows J. C. The anatomical basis of prosopagnosia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1974 May;37(5):489–501. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.37.5.489. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Olesen J., Larsen B., Lauritzen M. Focal hyperemia followed by spreading oligemia and impaired activation of rCBF in classic migraine. Ann Neurol. 1981 Apr;9(4):344–352. doi: 10.1002/ana.410090406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zeki S. A century of cerebral achromatopsia. Brain. 1990 Dec;113(Pt 6):1721–1777. doi: 10.1093/brain/113.6.1721. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]