Abstract
Background: Moyamoya disease is a chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease with unknown etiology, which is one of the most common causes of child-onset stroke in Japan. Surgical revascularizations, both direct and indirect procedures, prevent cerebral ischemic attack by improving cerebral blood flow, while neurological deterioration during the acute stage after revascularization is not rare. The objective of this study was to clarify the concept of revascularization surgery for pediatric moyamoya disease while considering the risk of surgical complications in the acute stage. Patients and methods: The present study includes 19 consecutive patients with moyamoya disease aged from 2 to 14 years old (mean 8.5), who underwent superficial temporal artery (STA)-middle cerebral artery (MCA) anastomosis with indirect pial synangiosis for 32 affected hemispheres. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed 1 and 7 days after surgery in all cases to evaluate hemodynamic alteration after surgery. Long-term outcome was evaluated by the neurological status 3 months after surgery, and the underlying pathology of surgical complications in the acute stage was diagnosed based on SPECT and magnetic resonance findings. Results: In 28 of 32 hemispheres (87.5%), patients showed a complete disappearance of ischemic attack, 4 of 32 hemispheres (12.5%) showed a reduction of ischemic attack, while none showed deterioration of their symptoms (0%). Transient focal neurologic deterioration due to cerebral hyperperfusion was evident in 2 patients (6.3%), and was resolved by blood pressure lowering. One patient developed pseudo-laminar necrosis probably due to a thrombosis one week after surgery (3.1%), which did not affect his long-term outcome. Conclusion: STA-MCA anastomosis with pial synangiosis is a safe and effective treatment for pediatric moyamoya disease. Routine cerebral blood flow measurement in the acute stage is essential to avoid surgical complications including both cerebral ischemia and hyperperfusion.
