Resolution of migraine with aura by removing pilocytic astrocytoma of the occipital lobe
Kitagawa, M.; Sato, T.; Ishizaki, R.; Saiki, M.
No Shinkei Geka. Neurological Surgery 34(1): 59-64
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 0301-2603 PMID: 16440698 Document Number: 603217
Migraine is one of the symptoms frequently encountered in daily neurological and neurosurgical clinical work. Here we report a case of pilocytic astrocytoma in the right occipital lobe presenting as migraine with aura. A 20-year-old female was referred to our hospital with the complaint of a migraine with visual aura. Her symptom did not respond to medical treatment. MRI of the brain disclosed a tumor involving the right occipital lobe. Total removal of the tumor (pilocytic astrocytoma, WHO grade 1) relieved her migraine completely. It has been previously reported that brain tumors are associated with migraine. But this is the first report of occipital pilocytic astrocytoma presenting as migraine with aura. As for other brain tumors manifesting migraine, all of them had focal neurological deficits or symptoms associated with increased intracranial pressure (ICP). The present case stresses the significance of exploration of brain tumor, or other organic abnormalities, even in patients suffering from migraine without neurological deficits or increased ICP symptoms.