Moyamoya: Indiana University Medical Center experience

Moyamoya usually presents with cerebral ischemia in children and intracranial hemorrhage in adults. Treatment remains controversial.

We reviewed our experience from June 1995 to August 1999 of 20 adult and pediatric angiographically diagnosed patients with moyamoya to report their clinical presentation, radiological findings, management, and clinical outcomes.

The mean age of patients at symptom onset was 17 years (range, 2-54 years). Patients were divided into 2 age groups (group 1, <18 years; group 2, > or =18 years). There were 13 patients in group 1 and 7 patients in group 2. Ischemic strokes or transient ischemic attacks were the predominant initial presentations in both groups. One patient in group 2 had an intraparenchymal brain hemorrhage. Five patients received medical treatment, and 15 had surgical revascularization. The mean time from symptom onset to surgical procedure was significantly longer for patients in group 1 than for those in group 2 (P =.03). The mean follow-up time was 36 months. One patient in group 1 had an ischemic stroke. There was no difference in stroke recurrence, mortality, or modified Rankin scale score among medically or surgically treated patients.

Moyamoya disease may have a different presentation and more benign natural history in our population than in Asian populations. Our findings emphasize the need to better understand the natural history of patients with moyamoya as well as the clinical benefit of different treatment modalities. Structured multicenter randomized clinical trials are needed to further assess the best treatment modalities for patients with moyamoya in the United States.