Vascular injuries in ergotamine abuse: a case report.

The case reported here concerns a 40-year-old woman who has suffered from severe migraine without aura since she was 23. The patient has been taking 1-3 suppositories of Virdex (2 mg of ergotamine tartrate, 250 mg of aminophenazone, caffeine) every day for the past three years. In addition to headache, the onset of short, sporadic cramps in the limbs together with paresthesia, hyposthenia, hypothermia and skin pallor with a slight increase in diastolic pressure, made hospital treatment necessary. Instrumental investigation through a stress test on a moving carpet, doppler, echo-doppler and digitalized angiography of the arterial vessels of the lower limbs shows the presence of bilateral impairment attributable to the chronic intake of ergotamine.