Background: Symptomatic cerebral hyperperfusion (SCH) is a potential complication after superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) anastomosis in patients with moyamoya disease. This retrospective study was designed to determine factors associated with SCH after STA-MCA anastomosis in adult moyamoya patients.
Methods: Eighty-two adult moyamoya patients undergoing STA-MCA anastomosis between July 2005 and December 2010 were enrolled. Laboratory data such as haemoglobin and white blood cell (WBC) count, preoperative (patient characteristic data, initial clinical manifestation, the angiographic staging), intraoperative (surgical time, the operative side, anaesthetic technique, fluid balance, arterial pressure, arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide, the lowest haematocrit, and intraoperative transfusion), and postoperative (arterial pressure, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score) data were collected and used as predictable factors for postoperative SCH, in which a focal intense increase in cerebral blood flow at the anastomosis site was shown in postoperative single-photon emission computed tomography.
Results: Among 82 patients with 99 surgeries, 39 patients (47 sides, 47%) suffered from transient neurological deterioration due to SCH from 1 to 9 days after operation (median: 2 days), which was sustained for 1-14 days (median: 7 days). The operation on the dominant hemisphere [odds ratio (OR), 5.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.07-12.54, P<0.001] was an independent risk factor for SCH. Also, WBC count on postoperative day 1 was significantly correlated with SCH (OR 1.19; 95%CI, 1.02-1.38, P=0.029).
Conclusions: The operation on the dominant hemisphere and increased postoperative WBC count may be associated with SCH after STA-MCA anastomosis in adult-onset moyamoya patients.