Temporary Steno-occlusive Change in the Donor Artery During Mouth Opening (Big Bite Ischemic Phenomenon) After Superficial Temporal Artery to Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass in Adult Patients with Moyamoya Disease and Atherosclerosis

A case of temporary occlusion of donor artery after secondary generalized seizure in a patient with superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery bypass

Background

To prevent stroke recurrence, a superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass for atherosclerotic cerebrovascular occlusive disease is performed. Post stroke epilepsy is known as serious sequelae of stroke. Herein, we present a case of a 60-year-old man who underwent STA-MCA bypass for the prevention of stroke recurrence; however, the donor artery was deemed to be temporally occluded secondary to generalized seizure.

Case Description

A 60-year-old man was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of the left cervical internal carotid artery occlusion presenting with mild aphasia and right hemiparesis. He underwent STA-MCA bypass to prevent the recurrence of stroke 1 month after the onset of symptoms. On postoperative day 7, patency of the donor artery was confirmed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and no complications were noted. However, on postoperative day 14, he presented with a secondary generalized seizure. MRI was immediately performed and the donor artery was not patent with no new lesions. Several hours thereafter, the blood flow of the donor artery was confirmed using pulse Doppler; however, during mouth opening, the flow of the donor artery decreased. Computed tomography-angiography confirmed donor artery patency. An encephalogram was conducted and revealed a focal epilepsy which was compatible with stroke on MRI.

Conclusion

Post stroke epilepsy caused an unintended and forced mouth opening which led to a temporary occlusion of the donor artery after STA-MCA bypass. Thus, this complication should be recognized, and seizures should be prevented through the administration of prophylactic anti-seizure medication based on risk stratification assessment of post stroke epilepsy.

TGFβ1 as a Predictive Biomarker for Collateral Formation Within Ischemic Moyamoya Disease

Objective

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a unique cerebrovascular occlusive disease characterized by progressive steno-occlusion within the terminal segment of the internal carotid artery. However, good collaterals from an external carotid artery are essential to compensate for the ischemia in moyamoya disease. This study aimed to investigate the transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGFβ1) in plasma as a potential biomarker for predicting collateral formation in ischemic MMD.

Methods

The transcriptome profile downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) was used to analyze the differential expression of genes between the ischemic MMD and the control groups. We prospectively recruited 23 consecutive patients with ischemic MMD that was diagnosed via digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Nine patients with intracranial aneurysms and four healthy people served as controls. The collaterals from the external carotid artery were examined using DSA. We evaluated whether the collateral formation was associated with TGFβ1 in patients with ischemic MMD. Western blot, RT-qPCR, ELISA, and tube formation assay were used to explore the relationship between TGFβ1 and angiogenesis, as well as the potential mechanisms.

Results

The mRNA levels of TGFβ1 were upregulated in the patients with ischemic MMD. The plasma TGFβ1 levels were higher in the patients with ischemic MMD than in the aneurysm and healthy patients (p < 0.05). The collateral formation group has higher levels of serum TGFβ1 than the non-collateral formation group (p < 0.05). The levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are positively correlated with TGFβ1 levels in the plasma (R² = 0.6115; p < 0.0001). TGFβ1 regulates VEGF expression via the activation of the TGFβ pathway within HUVEC cells, as well as TGFβ1 stimulating HUVEC cells to secrete VEGF into the cell culture media. An in vitro assay revealed that TGFβ1 promotes angiogenesis within the endothelial cells.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that TGFβ1 plays a vital role in promoting collateral formation by upregulating VEGF expression in ischemic MMD.

Use of a panel of four microRNAs in CSF as a predicted biomarker for postoperative neoangiogenesis in moyamoya disease

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS

At present, the treatment for moyamoya disease (MMD) primarily consists of combined direct and indirect bypass surgery. Nevertheless, more than half of indirect bypass surgeries fail to develop good collaterals from the dura and temporal muscle. This study aimed to investigate whether microRNAs (miRNAs) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could serve as biomarkers for the prediction of postoperative collateral formation.

METHODS

Moyamoya disease patients with indirect bypass surgery were divided into angiogenesis and non-angiogenesis groups, CSF was obtained, and miRNA sequencing was performed using the CSF. Candidate miRNAs were filtered and subsequently verified through qRT-PCR. The diagnostic utility of these differential miRNAs was investigated by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Finally, the potential biological processes and signaling pathways associated with candidate miRNAs were analyzed using R software.

RESULTS

The expression levels of four miRNAs (miR-92a-3p, miR-486-3p, miR-25-3p, and miR-155-5p) were significantly increased in the angiogenesis group. By combining these four miRNAs (area under the curve [AUC] =0.970), we established an accurate predictive model of collateral circulation after indirect bypass surgery in MMD patients. GO and KEGG analyses demonstrated a high correlation with biological processes and signaling pathways related to angiogenesis.

CONCLUSION

The 4-miRNA signature is a good model to predict angiogenesis after indirect bypass surgery and help the surgeon to select a appreciate bypass strategy.