Metabolism changes during direct revascularization in moyamoya disease: illustrative case

Cerebral revascularization is recommended for patients with moyamoya disease (MMD) with reduced cerebral perfusion reserve and recurrent or progressive ischemic events. The standard surgical treatment for these patients is a low-flow bypass with or without indirect revascularization. The use of intraoperative monitoring of the metabolic profile using analytes such as glucose, lactate, pyruvate, and glycerol has not yet been described during cerebral artery bypass surgery for MMD-induced chronic cerebral ischemia. The authors aimed to describe an illustrative case using intraoperative microdialysis and brain tissue oxygen partial pressure (PbtO2) probes in a patient with MMD during direct revascularization.

The patient's severe tissue hypoxia situation was confirmed by a PbtO2:partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) ratio below 0.1 and anaerobic metabolism by a lactate:pyruvate ratio greater than 40. Following bypass, a rapid and sustained increase in PbtO2 up to normal values (PbtO2:PaO2 ratio between 0.1 and 0.35) and the normalization of cerebral energetic metabolism with a lactate/pyruvate ratio less than 20 was observed.

The results show a quick improvement of regional cerebral hemodynamics due to the direct anastomosis procedure, reducing the incidence of subsequent ischemic stroke in pediatric and adult patients immediately.