Christmas is here!

I got too busy last night with wrapping gifts, eating more than I should have, and playing a mean game of scrabble to submit a post yesterday.

I hope I didn't bore or shock anyone with a condensed version of the disease. I am not the expert here, so I would highly recommend Moyamoya.com and the Stanford site for more in depth information.

I thought I would share the surgical treatment that I am expected to receive on the right side of my brain. Dr. Steinberg and his team still need further testing to determine the type of treatment required on the left side of my brain.

Based on my cerebral angiogram results and my age, I was told I was a candidate for a procedure called STA-MCA bypass. According to Stanford's site:

This procedure benefits patients by providing an immediate improvement in blood supply to the brain by redirecting blood from the scalp into the brain. It’s also known as an extracranial to intracranial bypass graft (EC-IC bypass). By virtue of doing the STA-MCA bypass, an indirect revascularization is achieved as well, and blood flow is expected to continue improving over a period of several months. In the series of patients who have had direct bypass grafts at The Moyamoya Center, results indicate a greater than 95 percent graft patency with excellent long term outcomes. Patients are typically hospitalized for 3 - 5 days, with overall recovery taking between 2 - 6 weeks before returning to all presurgery activities.This procedure is our first line recommendation in patients who are eligible. Children under 5 often don’t have arteries large enough to bypass, and may not be candidates for this surgery. A branch of a main scalp artery (superficial temporal artery, or STA) is sewn to a branch of a brain artery (middle cerebral artery, or MCA) lying on the brain’s surface in order to provide an immediate improvement in blood flow.

This is the procedure most often recommended for adults because it offers an immediate improvement in blood flow that will help reduce the risk of stroke and other symptoms associated with moyamoya.

I can't say I'm looking forward to the surgery, but this seems to be the more "popular" surgery among adults and one that Dr. Steinberg seems to have a great deal of experience performing.