ACHROMATOPSIA IN THE AURA OF MIGRAINE

A 49 year old woman reported an attack of transient neurological dysfu nction associated with unilateral headache. A prominent feature of the aura was a period of complete achromatopsia, so that the visual scene was experienced in monochrome. The episode developed to include featu res of prosopagnosia and spatial agnosia before resolving completely. Other episodes of transient neurological dysfunction followed at regul ar intervals until prophylactic antimigrainous therapy was initiated. Four vessel cerebral angiography and MRI of the brain were normal. Pos sible causes of this unusual migrainous aura are discussed with refere nce to current concepts of cerebral localisation.