• Alberto Verrotti, Giangennaro Coppola, Alessia Di Fonzo, Elisabetta Tozzi, Alberto Spalice, Paolo Aloisi, Raffaella Bruschi, Paola Iannetti, Maria Pia Villa, and Pasquale Parisi.
• Child Neurology and Department of Pediatrics, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy.
• Epilepsy Behav. 2011 May 1;21(1):52-9.

AbstractThe few reports that have been published on the current International Classification of Headache Disorders, Second Edition (ICHD-II), criteria for migralepsy and hemicrania epileptica have highlighted the considerable confusion regarding this "hot topic" within both headache and epilepsy classifications (ICHD-II and International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE]). Indeed, the ICHD-II describes a migraine-triggered seizure as a rare event in which a seizure occurs during migraine aura; on the other hand, hemicrania epileptica is described as an "ictal headache" that occurs "synchronously" with a partial seizure. To confuse matters even further, neither the term migralepsy nor the term hemicrania epileptica is included in the currently used ILAE classification. On the basis of both a review of "migralepsy" cases in the literature and 16 additional retrospective multicenter cases, we suggest that the term migraine-triggered seizure or migralepsy be deleted from the ICHD-II classification until unequivocal evidence is provided of its existence, and that the term ictal epileptic headache be introduced into the ILAE classification.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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