Migraine and the benign partial epilepsies of childhood: evidence for an association.

There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that benign rolandic epilepsy and benign occipital epilepsy of childhood are frequently associated with migraine. This however has not been universally recognized. Clearly further investigation of this association is required. The purpose of this report is to examine the varied diagnostic criteria for common migraine utilized by epileptologists and other neurologists, to review clinical migraine epilepsy relationships, EEG abnormalities in migraine and epilepsy, and the association of seizures with vascular headache in patients with various forms of epilepsy. Hopefully, this will stimulate further research into this intriguing association of two conditions which though they have different pathophysiology frequently coexist.