Grammy Reporter Serene Branson Suffered Complex Migraine, Not Stroke, Doctor Says

Feb. 17, 2011— -- A doctor who treated Serene Branson, the CBS Los Angeles reporter whose garbled live report from Sunday's Grammy awards had many wondering if she suffered a stroke on the air, said a complex migraine was to blame.

"Her description of the events is really entirely typical of complex migraine," said Dr. Andrew Charles, director of the Headache Research and Treatment Program in the UCLA Department of Neurology, who saw Branson this morning.

A symptom of migraine aura is "dysphasic language dysfunction," in which people know what they want to say but they can't get the words out. This is similar to aphasia, which can signal a stroke or a tumor.

"Imaging studies ruled out other kinds of problems like a stroke or primary brain event," Charles said.

Like a stroke, a complex migraine can disturb blood flow in the brain. But the main event in a migraine is "a storm of brain activity" that causes "waves of change in brain function" that spread across the brain, Charles said.

"There are dramatic changes in blood flow, but in the case of migraine, the changes don't reach the point where they actually damage the brain," Charles said. "There are no residual effects."

The video of the episode was upsetting to watch, as Branson's speech suddenly became slurred and incomprehensible. She appeared increasingly aware that something was wrong during the broadcast.

"Most people are aware that they're not speaking coherently and it's frightening when people understand that they're not making sense," Charles said. "It is typical for people to be quite upset by the event."

Branson was examined shortly after the incident by paramedics on location. Her vital signs were normal and she was not hospitalized.

Although Branson said she'd never experienced a complex migraine before, she indicated that they may run in her family, Charles said.

"If it was the first time it happened to someone, it would be important to evaluate them urgently," Charles said. "In her case, I think part of it was that she was feeling back to normal and she did have an understanding, even though she was frightened, that this was something that might tend to run in her family."