Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Acute basilar artery occlusion has a poor prognosis and best treatment has not been assessed yet; as for intra-arterial treatment, no "gold standard" exists. We evaluated a series of ten patients treated with intra-arterial combination of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) and abciximab. Partial/complete recanalisation was achieved in all patients and good outcome (1 month Modified Rankin Scale 0-2) in eight cases, while one patient had symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage and died. Such outcome appears significantly better if compared with the results of Basilar Artery International Cooperation Study, suggesting that intra-arterial administration of rtPA and abciximab may be a promising option in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion undergoing endovascular treatment.
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In the last few years several cases of headache as sole manifestation of an epileptic seizure have been reported and the term "ictal epileptic headache" has been recently proposed to identify an EEG-recorded epileptic seizure with migraine/headache-like features. Among the potential practical implications arising from these clinical observations, there is the urgent need for a revision of both International Classifications of Epilepsy and Headache disorders. We discuss these topics and provide additional comments about the physiopathological links between epilepsy and migraine.