Angioplasty for acute stroke with pediatric moyamoya syndrome

Moyamoya vasculopathy is a progressive, occlusive vasculopathy leading to ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. No treatments are established to treat acute ischemic stroke with moyamoya vasculopathy. A 3-year-old girl with moyamoya syndrome developed acute left hemiplegia. Emergent angiography showed near-occlusion of the supraclinoid segment of the right internal carotid artery. Balloon angioplasty was performed within 6 hours of symptom onset, with significant improvement in the child's neurological symptoms. This is the youngest case of intracranial balloon angioplasty, and this article discusses the paucity of data regarding angioplasty and other forms of endovascular intervention in pediatric cerebrovascular disease and moyamoya vasculopathy. Further study is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of endovascular intervention in these diseases.