Neurocognitive Performance After Cerebral Revascularization in Adult Moyamoya Disease

Background And Purpose: Cerebral revascularization using EC-IC bypass is widely used to treat moyamoya disease, but the effects of surgery on cognition are unknown. We compared performance on formal neurocognitive testing in adults with moyamoya disease before and after undergoing direct EC-IC bypass.

Methods: We performed a structured battery of 13 neurocognitive tests on 84 adults with moyamoya disease before and 6 months after EC-IC bypass. The results were analyzed using reliable change indices for each test, to minimize test-retest variability and practice effects.

Results: Twelve patients (14%) showed significant decline postoperatively, 9 patients (11%) improved, and 63 patients (75%) were unchanged. Similar results were obtained when the analysis was confined to those who underwent unilateral (33) or bilateral (51) revascularization.

Conclusions: The majority of patients showed neither significant decline nor improvement in neurocognitive performance after EC-IC bypass surgery. Uncomplicated EC-IC bypass seems not to be a risk factor for cognitive decline in this patient population.