Neurologia medico-chirurgica
Online ISSN : 1349-8029
Print ISSN : 0470-8105
ISSN-L : 0470-8105
Volume 55, Issue 3
Displaying 1-12 of 12 articles from this issue
Review Articles
  • Miki FUJIMURA, Teiji TOMINAGA
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 189-193
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Moyamoya disease is a chronic, occlusive cerebrovascular disease with unknown etiology characterized by bilateral steno-occlusive changes at the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery and an abnormal vascular network at the base of the brain. These diagnostic criteria of the moyamoya disease, stated by the Research Committee on Spontaneous Occlusion of the Circle of Willis (moyamoya disease) in Japan, are well established and generally accepted as the definition of this rare entity. On the contrary to the diagnosis of definitive moyamoya disease, there is some confusion in the terminology and understanding of quasi-moyamoya disease; moyamoya disease in association with various disease entities, such as atherosclerosis, autoimmune diseases, Down syndrome, etc. Although the clinical management is not affected by these semantic distinctions, terminological confusion may interfere with the international collaboration of the clinical investigation of these rare conditions. In this article, we sought to review the international standard and regional differences in the diagnosis of moyamoya disease and quasi-moyamoya disease.
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  • Satoshi KURODA, AMORE Study Group
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 194-198
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Recent development of a non-invasive magnetic resonance examination has increased the opportunity to identify asymptomatic patients with moyamoya disease who have experienced no cerebrovascular events. However, their clinical features, prognosis, and treatment strategy are still unclear because of small number of subjects and short follow-up periods. Therefore, we have designed Asymptomatic Moyamoya Registry (AMORE) study in Japan. The objectives of this nation-wide, multi-center prospective study are to clarify long-term prognosis of asymptomatic patients with moyamoya disease and to determine the risk factors that cause ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in them. In this article, we review the published data on asymptomatic moyamoya disease and report the on-going multi-center prospective cohort study, AMORE study. We would like to emphasize the importance to determine the clinical features, prognosis, and treatment strategies of asymptomatic moyamoya disease in very near future.
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  • Yasushi TAKAGI, Susumu MIYAMOTO, COSMO-Japan Study Group
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 199-203
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Moyamoya disease is a cerebrovascular occlusive disease characterized by progressive stenosis or by occlusion at the terminal portion of the bilateral internal carotid arteries. The unusual vascular network (moyamoya vessels) at the base of the brain with this disease as collateral channels is developed in this disease. Social independence because of cognitive impairment has recently been recognized as an important unsolved social issue with adult moyamoya disease. The patients with cognitive impairment have difficulty in proving their status because the standard neuroradiological and neuropsychological methods to define cognitive impairment with moyamoya disease are not determined. These patients with cognitive impairment should be supported by social welfare as psychologically handicapped persons. Thus Cognitive Dysfunction Survey of the Japanese Patients with Moyamoya Disease (COSMO-JAPAN study) is planned. In this study, we want to establish a standard finding of the cognitive impairment in patients with moyamoya disease.
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Original Article
  • Takeshi FUNAKI, Yasutaka FUSHIMI, Jun C. TAKAHASHI, Yasushi TAKAGI, Yo ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 204-209
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Fragile abnormal collaterals in moyamoya disease, known as “moyamoya vessels,” have rarely been defined. While flow-sensitive black-blood magnetic resonance angiography (FSBB-MRA) is a promising technique for visualizing perforating arteries, as of this writing no other reports exist regarding its application to moyamoya disease. Six adults with moyamoya disease underwent FSBB-MRA. It depicted abnormal collaterals as extended lenticulostriate, thalamic perforating, or choroidal arteries, which were all connected to the medullary or insular artery in the periventricular area and supplied the cortex. This preliminary case series illustrates the potential for FSBB-MRA to reveal abnormal moyamoya vessels, which could be reasonably defined as periventricular collaterals.
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Technincal Note
  • Yasuhiro SANADA, Tomonari YABUUCHI, Hiromasa YOSHIOKA, Hisashi KUBOTA, ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 210-213
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Moyamoya disease is commonly diagnosed in children, and requires various vascular reconstruction to improve symptoms. Therefore, scar widening and hair loss after craniotomy, which sometimes occurs in this disease, are serious problems for patients. A variety of plastic surgical techniques in scalp have been reported to minimize the scar widening and hair loss. However, any neurosurgical reports describing this purpose have never been published for moyamoya disease. The objective of this study was to investigate whether these plastic surgical techniques could be applied to bypass surgery without any compromise of vascular reconstruction for moyamoya disease. We performed direct and indirect vascular reconstruction in six hemispheres of moyamoya disease patients not only in the middle cerebral artery territory but also in the anterior cerebral artery territory. The scalp incision was designed not parallel to the hair stream, and the bevelled incision was conducted not to jeopardize the hair follicles. The scar and hair loss were effectively camouflaged throughout the postoperative period in all cases. This study demonstrates that our design of scalp incision achieve effective vascular reconstruction and obscure the scar and hair loss.
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Review Articles
  • Hiroharu KATAOKA
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 214-229
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Until recently, only a little was understood about molecular mechanisms of the development of an intracranial aneurysm (IA). Recent advancements over the last decade in the field of genetics and molecular biology have provided us a wide variety of evidences supporting the notion that chronic inflammation is closely associated with the pathogenesis of IA development. In the field of genetics, large-scale Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has identified some IA susceptible loci and genes related to cell cycle and endothelial function. Researches in molecular biology using human samples and animal models have revealed the common pathway of the initiation, progression, and rupture of IAs. IA formation begins with endothelial dysfunction followed by pathological remodeling with degenerative changes of vascular walls. Medical treatments inhibiting inflammatory cascades in IA development are likely to prevent IA progression and rupture. Statins and aspirin are expected to suppress IA progression by their anti-inflammatory effects. Decoy oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) inhibiting inflammatory transcription factors such as nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and Ets-1 are the other promising choice of the prevention of IA development. Further clarification of molecular mechanisms of the formation and progression of IAs will shed light to the pathogenesis of IA development and provide insight into novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for IAs.
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  • Kazumichi YOSHIDA, Susumu MIYAMOTO
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 230-240
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    In this review, we presented the evidence concerning carotid artery stenosis treatment in symptomatic stenosis and asymptomatic stenosis separately, and discussed the future challenges. The validity of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) to treat moderate or greater degree of symptomatic carotid artery stenosis appears to be established. Due to the additional option of carotid artery stenting (CAS), it is necessary to comprehensively determine whether CEA or CAS is more appropriate for each individual patient. Moreover, since there are rapid advancements in devices for CAS and improvements in treatment outcomes, continual learning of the latest treatment method is essential. For asymptomatic stenosis, due to improvements in the outcomes with best medical treatment (BMT), it is essential to re-evaluate the use of invasive CEA/CAS. Continual verification of the latest randomized clinical trial that compares CEA, CAS, and BMT, and establishment of a diagnostic method that can accurately extract the group of patients who have the highest future risk of developing ischemia, are desired.
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  • Yuki MIYAJI, Shinichi YOSHIMURA, Nobuyuki SAKAI, Hiroshi YAMAGAMI, Yus ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 241-247
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    The data of the nationwide prospective registry of acute cerebral large vessel occlusion (LVO; RESCUE-Japan Registry) were analyzed to know the effect of edaravone, a free radical scavenger, on clinical outcome at 90 days after onset. In this registry, patients with acute cerebral LVO admitted within 24 h after onset were prospectively registered. The effect of various factors including endovascular treatment (EVT), intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rt-PA), and other medication including edaravone on favorable outcome (modified Rankin scale 0–1) was analyzed. Of the 1,454 registered patients, 1,442 patients (99.2%) had the information of edaravone were analyzed. In total, edaravone group had more patients with favorable outcome compared to non-edaravone group (22.9% vs. 13.8%, p = 0.0006). Edaravone increased favorable outcome in patients treated with IV rt-PA (29.4% vs. 11.1%, p = 0.0107), but not with EVT (21.2% vs. 13.9%, p = 0.309). Logistic regression analysis revealed that higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission [odds ratio (OR) 0.875, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.858–0.894] and advanced age (OR 0.963, 95%CI 0.952–0.975) were significantly related to unfavorable outcome. In contrast, IV rt-PA (OR 2.489, 95%CI 1.867–3.319), EVT (OR 1.375, 95%CI 1.013–1.865), and edaravone (OR 1.483, 95%CI 1.027–2.143) were significantly associated with favorable outcome. This analysis indicated that IV rt-PA, EVT, and edaravone were effective to obtain favorable outcome in patients with acute LVO. Combination IV rt-PA with edaravone was more effective.
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Case Report
  • Masanori TSUJIMOTO, Shinichi YOSHIMURA, Yukiko ENOMOTO, Noriaki YAMADA ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 248-252
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    The present report describes our experience with air transfer of patients with acute ischemic stroke in whom intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV t-PA) failed for rescue endovascular therapy (EVT). Twenty-three consecutive patients in whom IV t-PA failed were transferred to our hospital for rescue EVT between February 2011 and April 2013. The amount of time required for transfer, distance, clinical outcomes, and complications were compared between patients transferred by ground (TG group; n = 17) and by air (TA group; n = 6). Computed tomography imaging on arrival revealed hemorrhagic transformation in 1 (5.9%) patient in the TG group, whereas none of the patients in the TA group developed any type of complication. The remaining 22 patients received rescue EVT. The elapsed time from the request call to arrival at our hospital did not significantly differ between the TG and TA groups (45.8 ± 4.9 min vs. 41.6 ± 2.3 min). However, the distance from the primary hospital to our institution was significantly longer for the TA group than for the TG group (38.8 ± 10.4 km vs. 13.5 ± 1.2 km, p = 0.001). The frequency of favorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale 0–1 at 90 days after onset) in the TG and TA groups were 25.0% and 50.0%, respectively (p = 0.267). Air transfer for patients after IV t-PA failure allowed for more rapid delivery of patients over longer distances than ground transfer.
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Original Articles
  • Goichiro TAMURA, Noriyuki KATO, Tomosato YAMAZAKI, Yoshimitsu AKUTSU, ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 253-260
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Eudragit-E was originally developed as a non-adhesive liquid embolic material in the late 1990s and is a copolymer of methyl and butyl methacrylate and dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate that is dissolved in ethanol and iopamidol. This material has been used for endovascular embolization of brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) for some time but is currently not widely used. Because safety and feasibility of Eudragit-E has not been well documented, we here report our experience using this material for treating 22 human brain AVMs. From June 1998 to February 2014, 30 endovascular procedures using Eudragit-E were performed to treat 22 patients, including 14 men and 8 women with a mean age of 41.1 years (15–70 years). The mean follow-up period was 56 months (12–129 months), and the Spetzler-Martin grades were I (4 patients), II (9 patients), III (5 patients), and IV (4 patients). Residual AVMs were treated with stereotactic radiosurgery or surgery. The rate of complete obliteration with embolization alone was 27.3%. The overall obliteration rate after endovascular embolization with/without subsequent stereotactic radiosurgery or surgery was 72.7%. Eudragit-E caused two cases of cerebral infarction. One case of intracerebral hemorrhage due to postoperative hemodynamic changes also occurred. The rate of complications directly related to embolization was 10.0%. The safety and effectiveness of Eudragit-E embolization were satisfactory.
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  • Hideaki ISHIHARA, Shoichiro ISHIHARA, Jun NIIMI, Hiroaki NEKI, Yoshiak ...
    2015 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 261-265
    Published: 2015
    Released on J-STAGE: March 15, 2015
    Advance online publication: February 20, 2015
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Mechanically-induced vasospasm often occurs during guiding catheter insertion, occasionally preventing catheter advancement to the desired location. Delicate manipulation would be impossible without the proper positioning of guiding catheters, and vasospasm-induced cerebral hypoperfusion may cause thrombotic complications. From June 2012 to December 2013, we prospectively analyzed 150 endovascular treatment cases, excluding acute cases, for the frequency of vasospasm, risk factors, and countermeasures. The associated risk factors such as the Japanese-style State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) score; anatomy and devices; and the efficacies of warm compresses, intra-arterial lidocaine/nicardipine, and tranquilizers were analyzed. Groups 1, 2, and 3 comprised 50 patients each with controls, tranquilizer administration, and prophylactic warm compresses/intra-arterial drug injection, respectively. Moderate or severe vasospasm was seen in approximately 40% patients in each group; however, severe vasospasm was absent in Group 3. Mild vasospasm-induced cerebral infarction occurred in one patient each in Groups 1 and 2. Vasospasm during diagnostic angiography [odds ratio (OR) = 10.63; P = 0.01], many ≥ 30° vessel curves [OR = 4.21; P = 0.01], and the high STAI score [OR = 1.84; P = 0.01] were risk factors for severe vasospasm. Although the relationship between anxiety and sympathetic tone remained unclear, tranquilizer administration relieved vasospasm. Warm compresses and the intra-arterial drug infusion were also useful for relieving vasospasm. Prophylactic measures such as a tranquilizer and warm compresses are expected to alleviate vasospasm; in addition, countermeasures such as the intra-arterial injection of lidocaine/nicardipine are effective.
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