We report the case of a 9-year-old girl with early-onset developmental delay, chronic ataxia and prolonged hemiplegic migraine episodes bringing about progressive deterioration. Two days into one episode, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging disclosed unilateral striatal abnormal signal consistent with cytotoxic edema, which evolved into atrophy on follow-up scans. Mutational screen of CACNA1A gene identified a de novo p.Tyr1387Cys mutation.
© 2011 American Headache Society.