When migraine aura symptoms are prolonged or last into or through the headache phase these types of migraine are commonly referred to as complicated migraines. There are several forms of these complicated migraine attacks. There is opthalmoplegic migraine where patients develop a partial or complete paralysis of the nerves that are needed for eye movement. There is retinal migraine where the patient's visual symptoms occur from the retina itself versus the portion of the brain involved in vision, as is the case for the typical migraine aura. There is hemiplegic migraine, which can be inherited and has been linked to one of several chromosomes.
Patients develop stroke like symptoms with sensory and or loss of strength of muscles.
There is basilar migraine, which used to be called Bickerstaff's syndrome. Here patients start with a typical migraine aura then progress to developing neurological symptoms related to the bases of the brain called the brainstem. Unlike typical migraine attacks where numbness can occur on one side of the body in this form both sides are affected. The headaches in basilar migraine are often at the back of the head and may have very severe vomiting as part of it. In all these forms there seems to be an increased risk of the migraine producing permanent neurological changes that do not go away and may also correlate with changes on the MRI scan like those seen in stroke.