Cerebral Circulation in Pediatric Patients with Moyamoya Disease

Tomographic Cerebral Blood Flow Map obtained by Xenon-enhanced Computerized Tomography

Abstract

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured by xenon-enhanced computerized tomography (CT) in 12 children with moyamoya disease (mean age 9 years) prior to surgical treatment. rCBF values in the cerebral regions were as follows; mean hemisphere 57±5.9 ml/100 g/min (mean±SEM), the frontal cortex 52±6.1, the temporal cortex 52±10.6, the occipital cortex 86± 9.6, the frontal white matter 13±1.6, the thalamus 151±18.1, the putamen 134±16.1, the caudate nucleus 148±15.7, and the internal capsule 50±5.4. According to the present data, cerebral circulation in children with moyamoya disease was characterized by the moderate to severe hypoperfusion in the frontal and temporal cortices, a subcortical ischemia, and a high flow in the central structures of the brain which involved the areas of basal moyamoya vessels. These characteristics were well demonstrated by a linear rCBF profile which passed coronally through the temporal lobes and thalamus on the rCBF map obtained by xenon-enhanced CT.