Neurocognitive Impairment in Adults With Moyamoya Disease Without Stroke
Neurosurgery, 02/23/2012
Clinical Article
Karzmark P et al. – Cognitive impairment in moyamoya disease (MMD) can occur in the absence of ischemic stroke as manifested on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Methods- The authors performed detailed neuropsychological assessments in 30 adults with angiographically confirmed MMD without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of stroke.
- Twenty patients (67%) exhibited small T2 hyperintensities in the cerebral subcortical white matter on brain MRI but no evidence of gray matter damage.
- Significant cognitive impairment, defined as half of test scores ≥1 SD below the normal mean, was present in 7 patients (23%).
- Executive functioning, mental efficiency, and word finding were the ability areas most frequently impaired, whereas memory was relatively intact.
- Clinically significant emotional distress (depression and/or anxiety) was present in 11 patients (37%).
- Comparable cognitive findings were also observed in the subset of 10 patients (33%) with completely normal static brain MRI.
