Surgical Treatment of Moyamoya Disease

Moyamoya syndrome is defined as the development of collateral anastomosis pathways at the base of the brain, associated with chronic progressive stenosis of the carotid fork. Both reconstructive vascular surgery and conservative strategies are used to treat this syndrome, but the latter cannot prevent the disease from progressing. We describe the procedure of encephalo-duro-arterio-myo-synangiosis (EDAMS), and report the results in 17 patients (28 sides) who underwent EDAMS. The clinical symptoms of moyamoya disease include transient ischemic attacks, reversible ischemic neurological deficits, stroke, seizures, Gerstmann's syndrome, involuntary movements, or mental retardation resulting from the lack of cerebral blood flow. The clinical results of EDAMS were poor in one patient, fair in two, good in five, excellent in eight, and fair on one side and excellent on the other side in one patient. Postoperative angiograms showed widespread collateral circulation on the ischemic brain surface in patients undergoing EDAMS.