Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood: a long-term follow-up.

We examined clinical aspects of Benign Paroxysmal Vertigo (BPV) in infancy and its most frequent differential diagnosis, in particular analogies and differences with forms of "migrainous vertigo" (MV) of later onset. During a long-term follow-up of 7 cases of BPV, diagnosed according to the Basser criteria, 5 of 7 BPV cases spontaneously resolved and 6 of 7 patients later developed migraine and other migraine-related symptoms. This course differs from that described for MV only in the age of onset of headache and in the chronological relationship with vertigo. The authors suggest that BPV can be interpreted as a migraine precursor and MV as a migraine equivalent.