The following is a summary of “Effects of anastomoses between anterior and posterior circulation on postoperative prognosis of patients with Moyamoya disease,” published in the January 2024 issue of Neurology by Yuan et al.

Researchers started a retrospective study to assess whether anterior-posterior circulation anastomoses influence prognosis in Moyamoya disease (MMD) patients.

They examined digital subtraction angiography images of MMD patients who had revascularization surgery (March 2014 to May 2020). Patients were categorized into two groups, those with anastomoses (PtoA group) and those without anastomoses (non-PtoA group). In a 6-month follow-up, the study analyzed Matsushima grade and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) differences between two groups and among patients with varying anastomosis degrees. Early complications post-revascularization were compared between the two groups.

The results showed 104 patients with MMD, with 38 being non-PtoA and 66 being PtoA. No notable variances were observed in Matsushima score (P=0.252) and mRS score (P=0.066) between the two groups. Matsushima score (P=0.243) and mRS score (P=0.360) exhibited no significant distinctions among patients with varying degrees of anastomoses. Nonetheless, non-PtoA group displayed a markedly higher incidence of cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS) compared to PtoA group (34.2% vs 16.7%, P=0.041)

Investigators concluded a lack of preoperative anterior-posterior anastomoses in MMD patients signaled increased vigilance for early postoperative CHS.

Source: springer.com/article/10.1007/s10072-024-07346-6