Ischemic Stroke Presenting as Thunderclap Headache: Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature

acute and severe headache that was maximum in intensity at onset, as the solely or the main or manifestation of the ischemic event. We excluded (i) patients with cervical or intracranial artery dissections, reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, intracranial infection or cerebral venous sinus thrombosis as the cause of the stroke; (ii) patients with ischemia not demonstrated by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRI); (iii) patients in whom the investigation of the stroke etiology was not performed, and (iv) reports in which clinical and radiological characteristics of the patients were not available. The following variables were collected from each selected study: (i) age, (ii) gender, (iii) stroke etiology, (iv) localization of the lesion, (v) previous history of migraine or of other headache, and (vi) relationship between the headache and stroke localization.