Migraines et épilepsies temporales mésiales familiales : quel est le lien ?

Numerous reviews have emphasized the links between certain types of epilepsy and migraine. Historically, Gowers was one of the first, in 1907, to have drawn attention to a possible relationship between migraine headache and epilepsy in a period when no additional examination was available. In the last two decades, progress in molecular biology, electrophysiology, and neuro-imaging has enabled a better approach to the fundamental elements underlying the interrelationship between these two nosological domains. During this same time, a new term “channelopathy” has appeared in the literature. This term groups together affections involving a dysfunction of ion channels. In this article, the links between the different types of migraine and familial mesial temporal lobe epilepsy are illustrated by two case reports. This association does not appear to occur at random but would undoubtedly depend on a common genetic substratum, leading to a direct comorbidity. These occasional recurring symptoms would lie within the framework of a more general concept of “Primary Brain Channelopathies”.