[Migraine 'masks': differential diagnosis of acute headache].

Differential diagnosis of migraine, can be difficult, especially of migraine with aura. On the one hand, some diseases can produce symptoms similar to migraine (cerebral aneurysm before rupture, reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome). On the other hand, migraine with aura and some other disorders are conditions that have common pathophysiological mechanisms (e.g., CADASIL and MELAS syndrome, antiphospholipid syndrome). Thirdly, clinical presentations of migraine are often difficult to distinguish from features of other headache conditions (migraine with aura - transient ischemic attack, migraine with visual aura - occipital epilepsy). The author discusses the differential diagnosis of acute headache, especially thunderclap headache, and main strategies of effective treatment of migraine attacks.