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Research from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University School of Medicine Reveals New Findings on Neuroscience

2013 JAN 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Current study results on Neuroscience have been published. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Moyamoya disease and moyamoya syndrome (MMD/S) are a considerable source of neurologic morbidity in adults as a result of both ischemic and hemorrhagic events. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of literature detailing the natural course of MMD/S in the USA."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University School of Medicine, "To elucidate epidemiological information, stroke rates, hemorrhage rates, and risk factors for these events in patients with MMD/S, we reviewed our own institutional cohort of 42 North American adults with MMD/S. The mean patient age was 38.8 (standard deviation [SD] 12.7) with a 5:1 female-to-male predominance. About 74% of patients had an ischemic presentation while only 17% presented with hemorrhage. The mean Suzuki grade was higher in patients presenting with hemorrhage (3.7 compared to 2.9, p=0.03) but similar in those who presented with a stroke as compared to those who did not (3.00 compared to 3.05, p=0.88). The overall annual stroke and hemorrhage rates were 13.3% and 1.7%, respectively. Statistically significant risk factors for stroke or hemorrhage were female sex (p=0.031) and stroke presentation within 3years (hazard ratio [HR]=4.08, p=0.035). Smoking was another risk factor, but it did not meet statistical significance (HR=1.56, p=0.38). We conclude that these results favor intervention for MMD/S to mitigate the high annual stroke risk. This particularly applies to females and/or those presenting with a recent stroke/hemorrhage."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Our results also serve as a baseline for comparison of hemorrhage rates after intervention."

For more information on this research see: The natural history of Moyamoya in a North American adult cohort. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 2013;20(1):44-8. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Journal of Clinical Neuroscience - www.elsevier.com/wps/product/cws_home/623056)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from B.A. Gross, Dept. of Neurological Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States.

Keywords for this news article include: Boston, Stroke, Hemorrhage, Neuroscience, Massachusetts, United States, Risk and Prevention, North and Central America.

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