DTI and fMRI alterations in a surgically-treated patient with moyamoya disease suffering severe speech impairments.

Abstract

Moyamoya is a rare chronic brain vascular disease with a set of potential life-threatening consequences due to a high probability of stroke occurrence. Here we present a case of a patient with moyamoya disease, who has been dynamically observed over more than 4 years after the first manifestation of her symptoms. In this study we report fMRI and DTI findings obtained at the final follow-up point, four years after two revascularization surgeries were successfully performed. Our findings lend support to the idea that revascularization surgery is effective in preventing future strokes, but may lead to only minor improvement in cognitive performance.