title: Recurrent Wernicke's aphasia: migraine and not stroke!
abstract: We report the clinical findings of a 40-year-old woman with recurrent migraine presenting with Wernicke's aphasia in accordance with the results of a standardized battery for language assessment (Boston Aphasia Diagnostic Examination). The patient had no evidence of parenchymal or vascular lesions on MRI and showed delta and theta slowing over the left posterior temporal leads on the EEG. Although the acute onset of a fluent aphasia suggested stroke as a likely etiology, the recurrence of aphasia as the initial symptom of migraine was related to cortical spreading depression and not to stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Lausanne, CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nishant Kumar
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Andrea O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ménétrey
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carota
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001041:Aphasia, Wernicke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D013181:Cortical Spreading Depression / Q000502:physiology*; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008881:Migraine Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012008:Recurrence; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D013826:Theta Rhythm; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed