Quality of life and psychological impact in adult patients with hemorrhagic moyamoya disease who received no surgical revascularization

Psychiatric manifestations in moyamoya disease: more than a puff of smoke? a systematic review and a case-reports meta-analysis

Introduction

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a life-threatening condition characterized by stenosis of intracranial arteries. Despite the frequency and the impact of psychiatric symptoms on the long-term prognosis and quality of life of MMD patients, no systematic review on this topic exists.

Methods

This systematic review and meta-analysis included 41 studies (29 being case reports), from PubMed, Scopus, Embase until 27/3/2023, on MMD patients exhibiting psychiatric symptoms.

Results

Despite a fair average quality of the articles, quantitative synthesis through logistic regression was possible only for case reports, due to heterogeneity between the other studies. Psychosis, the most frequent psychiatric symptom reported in case reports, was more frequent in MMD patients with left hemisphere involvement. Neurological symptoms occurrence increased the odds of MMD diagnosis preceding psychiatric symptoms. Psychiatric symptoms are highly prevalent in MMD patients and are relatively often the only presenting symptoms.

Discussion

We discuss the diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic implications of recognizing and characterizing specific psychiatric symptoms in MMD, outlining preliminary guidelines for targeted pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. Lastly, we outline future research and clinical perspectives, striving to enhance the oft-overlooked psychiatric care for MMD patients and to ameliorate their long-term outcome.

Systematic Review Registration

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42023406303.

Development and effects of salutogenesis program for adolescents with moyamoya disease: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Disease-specific interventions for management and health behavior implementation are needed to improve the health and quality of life of adolescents with moyamoya disease.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to develop a program for adolescents with moyamoya disease based on the salutogenesis theory, which focuses on the process of enhancing health through successful adaptation to external stressors, and to evaluate its effectiveness.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial was performed according to the CONSORT guidelines. This preliminary research and experimental treatment were conducted at a Severance Hospital ward and outpatient clinic among 48 participants randomized into the intervention (seven sessions of salutogenesis program, n = 24) or the control group (one session of one-to-one moyamoya disease education program, n = 24) from September 6, 2018 to January 4, 2019. Changes in the following study outcomes were reported: "knowledge of moyamoya disease," "social support," "sense of coherence," "moyamoya disease health behavior," "stress," "depression," "subjective health status," "frequency of ischemic symptoms," and "quality of life".

RESULTS

The salutogenesis program improved the knowledge and social support of adolescents with illness-related problems and helped them attain healthy behaviors and stress reduction. It was confirmed to be effective in improving their quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS

The salutogenesis program for adolescents with moyamoya disease effectively improved the generalized resistance resources and sense of coherence in adolescents with moyamoya disease.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Korean Clinical Research Information Service registry, KCT0006869.

The effect of Chinese culture-adapted dignity therapy on advanced cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in the day oncology unit: A quasi-experimental study

PURPOSE

To examine the effects of Chinese culture-adapted dignity therapy on dignity-related and psychological, spiritual distress and family function for advanced cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in the day oncology unit.

METHOD

This is a quasi-experimental study. Patients were recruited from a day oncology unit at a tertiary cancer hospital in Northern China. A total of 39 patients agreeing to participate were assigned to receive Chinese culture-adapted dignity therapy (intervention group, n = 21) or supportive interview (control group, n = 18) according to their admission time. Patients' dignity-related, psychological, spiritual distress, and family function were assessed at baseline (T0) and after completing the intervention (T1) and the scores were compared between and within the groups. Besides, the interviews were conducted with patients at T1 to obtain their feedback, which were analyzed and integrated with the quantitative results.

RESULTS

There was no statistical significance in all outcomes at T1 between the two groups, as well as in most outcomes between T0 and T1 in the intervention groups except for the relieved dignity-related distress (P = 0.017), especially the physical distress (P = 0.026), and the improved family function (P = 0.005), especially the family adaptability (P = 0.006). The synthesized quantitative and qualitative results showed that the intervention could relieve physical and psychological distress, enhance the sense of dignity, and improve the spiritual well-being and family function of patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese culture-adapted dignity therapy showed positive effects on the life experiences of patients receiving chemotherapy in the day oncology unit and their family, and it might be a suitable, indirect communication prompt for Chinese families.

Quality of life impairment in adult Moyamoya patients-preoperative neuropsychological assessment and correlation to MRI and H215O PET findings

Moyamoya angiopathy (MMA) related cerebral perfusion deficits or infarctions might influence quality of life (QoL). This study examines preoperative QoL in adult patients with MMA and correlates these with findings obtained via diagnostic imaging. Sixty-seven adult Moyamoya patients underwent preoperative neuropsychological testing including questionnaires to determine QoL, as well as psychiatric and depressive symptoms. The results were checked for correlation with territorial hypoperfusions seen in H₂¹⁵O PET with acetazolamide (ACZ) challenge (cerebrovascular reserve) and infarction patterns observed in MRI. Each vascular territory was analyzed separately and correlated with QoL. Physical role function was restricted in 41.0% of cases and emotional role function in 34.4% of cases (SF-36). Obsessive–compulsive disorder (39.3%) (SCL-90-R), psychoticism (34.4%) (SCL-90-R), and depression (32.7%) (BDI-II) were also very common. Psychoticism was significantly more frequent in cases where perfusion deficits in PET CT were observed in both MCA territories (left p = 0.0124, right p = 0.0145) and infarctions in MRI were present in the right MCA territory (p = 0.0232). Depression was significantly associated with infarctions in the right MCA territory (SCL-90-R p = 0.0174, BDI-II p = 0.0246). Women were affected more frequently by depression (BDI-II, p = 0.0234). Physical role function impairment was significantly associated with perfusion deficits in the left MCA territory (p = 0.0178) and infarctions in the right MCA territory (p = 0.0428). MMA leads to impairments in different areas of QoL. Approximately one-third of all adult MMA patients suffered from depression, with women being most affected. In addition to depression, presence of executive dysfunctions and mental disorders such as psychoticism, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and impaired physical and emotional role function affected QoL. These patients showed significantly more often infarctions and perfusion deficits in the right MCA territory. Long-term studies with follow-up results are necessary to clarify a possible beneficial impact of early surgical revascularization on QoL and depression in adult MMA patients.

Functional Outcomes After Revascularization Procedures in Patients With Hemorrhagic Moyamoya Disease

BACKGROUND

Poor natural history of hemorrhagic Moyamoya disease (MMD) is related to high rehemorrhage rates between 32% and 61%. Postrevascularization, rehemorrhage rates reportedly decrease to 12% to 17%.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate long-term functional outcomes and rehemorrhage rates of hemorrhagic MMD patients treated with surgical revascularization and examine these in relation to clinical and radiological factors.

METHODS

Patients treated surgically for hemorrhagic MMD over a 26-yr period were identified. Modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess clinical status at presentation and functional outcomes. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to evaluate the risk factors associated with rehemorrhage rates and functional outcomes.

RESULTS

A total of 104 patients (mean age: 38.04 yr) were identified. The mean mRS score at baseline was 1.3. Of 172 revascularized hemispheres, 157 (91.3%) were direct superficial temporal artery (STA)-middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypasses and the rest indirect. Over the mean follow-up of 61.4 mo, 8 of 104 patients (7.7%) experienced rehemorrhage with rehemorrhage rate per person-years of 1.9%. A total of 4 patients died with 1 related to rehemorrhage. At the last follow-up, mean mRS score improved to 1.1. No significant risk factors were identified in relation to the rehemorrhage rates (P < .05). The patients' initial mRS score was positively associated with mRS scores at the final follow-up (P < .001). STA-MCA direct bypass was associated with better performance status (P = .033).

CONCLUSION

Rehemorrhage rate following surgical revascularization of the hemorrhagic MMD patients at 7.7% is lower compared with much higher natural history rates. Surgical revascularization improved patients' performance status. These outcomes support performing revascularization procedure with a preference for direct STA-MCA bypasses.

Prognostic factors for adult patients with hemorrhagic moyamoya disease in the acute stage

OBJECTIVES

Hemorrhagic moyamoya disease (MMD) is one common subtype in adult patients. However, the study about outcome of hemorrhagic MMD patients in the acute stage is still lacking. This study is aimed to explore the short-term prognostic factors for adult patients with hemorrhagic MMD in the acute stage.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Adult hemorrhagic MMD patients in the acute stage awere retrospectively analyzed. Both clinical and imaging data were collected. Unfavorable functional outcome at discharge was considered when modified Rankin Scale score ≥3. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the prognostic factors in patients with hemorrhagic MMD in the acute stage.

RESULTS

A total of 107 patients were included in this study. Among these patients, 17 died and 59 had unfavorable functional outcome at 9.6 ± 7.8 days. In multivariate logistic regression, admission blood glucose (odds ratio (OR) = 1.457, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.156-1.836, P = 0.001), midline shift >5 mm (OR = 24.268, 95%CI 4.324-136.191, P < 0.001), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR = 13.067, 95%CI 2.020-84.512, P = 0.007) were independently associated with death at discharge. Moreover, admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (OR = 0.420, 95%CI 0.296-0.598, P < 0.001), midline shift >5 mm (OR = 6.685, 95%CI 1.226-36.455, P = 0.028), and intraparenchymal hemorrhage (OR = 4.790, 95%CI 1.184-19.381, P = 0.028) were independently associated with unfavorable functional outcome at discharge.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that admission blood glucose, midline shift >5 mm, and subarachnoid hemorrhage are independent predictors of short-term mortality in hemorrhagic MMD in the acute stage. In addition, admission GCS score, midline shift >5 mm, and intraparenchymal hemorrhage are independent predictors of short-term unfavorable functional outcome in hemorrhagic MMD in the acute stage.

Moyamoya angiopathy: long-term follow-up study in a Finnish population

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Moyamoya angiopathy (MMA) is a chronic cerebrovascular disorder predominantly starting in childhood or early adulthood and thus affects the whole lifetime. Little is known on MMAs long-term outcomes in European patients. We report long-term follow-up data on Finnish MMA patients.

METHODS

We included patients from our Helsinki University Hospital MMA database and arranged long-term follow-up visits for all the patients. This follow-up included a review of the medical records accumulated in due time, detailed neurological and neuropsychological evaluation, and outcome measures modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel Index (BI).

RESULTS

There were 61 MMA patients with a mean follow-up period of 9.5 years (SD 6.7 years; range 1.3-35.4 years; 581 patient-years). Only two patients had died and two-thirds (n = 40, 65.6%) had no new events during the follow-up period. Eight patients (13.1%) had an ischemic and five patients (8.2%) a hemorrhagic stroke during the follow-up. There were no differences between operated (n = 26) and conservatively (n = 35) treated groups regarding recurrent events or the outcome measured with mRS or BI. Finnish MMA patients reported significantly poorer physical and psychological health aspects of QOL when compared to the general Finnish population. Symptoms of low mood were found in 27 (56%) patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Finnish MMA patients have a benign and stable course with a ~3.5 % annual stroke risk. We found no differences in the clinical outcomes between the operated and conservative groups, however, the psychosocial well-being requires more attention in MMA patients.

Depression and Catatonia: A Case of Neuropsychiatric Complications of Moyamoya Disease

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare idiopathic cerebrovascular disease most common among the Asian population. Studies have shown that patients with MMD are at increased risk for developing psychiatric complications. We present a patient with hemorrhagic MMD (RNF213 gene mutation) who developed depression and catatonia over time following MMD-related strokes. While no guidelines exist for the management of such an uncommon scenario, it at least requires an interdepartmental approach. Our report highlights the medical complications of untreated MMD and its neuropsychiatric association with depression and catatonia.

Quality of Life in Pediatric Moyamoya Disease

BACKGROUND

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a progressive intracranial arteriopathy with high risk of stroke. Its impact on quality of life is unstudied. We surveyed children with moyamoya disease and compared their quality of life to chronically ill children and children with stroke to better understand the impact of this diagnosis.

METHODS

Children with moyamoya disease aged seven to 17 years from Stanford's Moyamoya Clinic between June 2014 and March 2015 were included. Children with syndromic neurodevelopmental diagnoses were excluded. Patients were surveyed using the Pediatric Quality of Life 4.0, in addition to the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure or Recovery Recurrence Questionnaire. Mean scores were compared to normative data sets. Linear regression models compared total quality of life scores in patients with and without stroke, after adjusting for confounders.

RESULTS

This cross-sectional study included 30 children with moyamoya disease; ten were male, and the median age was 13.5 years (range, 7 to 17 years). Twenty children (67%) had a stroke, and 14 of these had good neurological outcome (70%). Mean parent-proxy Pediatric Quality of Life scores were lower in all domains compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05), and all scores were comparable to chronically ill children and children with non-moyamoya disease stroke. There was no significant difference in total quality of life between patients with and without stroke.

CONCLUSIONS

Even in the absence of stroke, children with moyamoya disease have lower quality of life than healthy controls and a similar quality of life to chronically ill children and those with non-moyamoya disease stroke. Children with moyamoya disease would benefit from mental health support beyond what a mild physical presentation may indicate.

Different aspects of dysexecutive syndrome in patients with moyamoya disease and its clinical subtypes

OBJECTIVE Dysexecutive syndrome is common in patients with moyamoya disease (MMD), a chronic cerebrovascular disease that is characterized by stenosis of the bilateral internal carotid arteries and progressive collateral revascularization, and MMD can be classified as ischemic or hemorrhagic according to the disease presentation and history. In this study, the authors aimed to determine which aspects of executive function are impaired in patients with MMD, in addition to the specific dysexecutive functions present among its clinical subtypes and the mechanisms underlying dysexecutive function in these patients. METHODS The authors administered 5 typical executive function tests (the Stroop test, the Hayling Sentence Completion Test [HSCT], the verbal fluency [VF] test, the N-back test, and the Sustained Attention to Response Task [SART]) to 49 patients with MMD and 47 IQ-, age-, education-, and social status-matched healthy controls. The dysexecutive questionnaire (DEX) was also used to assess participants' subjective feelings about their executive function. A total of 39 of the patients were evaluated by CT perfusion (CTP) before the assessments were performed, and the correlations among the performances of the patients on the above tests with the parameters of cerebral blood volume, cerebral blood flow (CBF), mean transit time (MTT), and time-to-peak (TTP) in the frontal lobes of these patients were also analyzed. RESULTS Many aspects of executive function in the patients with MMD were significantly poorer than those in the healthy controls, and the patients performed particularly poorer on the VF test, HSCT, N-back test, and SART. The patients with hemorrhagic MMD exhibited worse executive inhibition, executive processing, and semantic inhibition compared with those with ischemic MMD, but the latter group presented a worse working memory and poorer sustained attention. There were no significant differences in the DEX scores between the patients with MMD and healthy controls. The other findings were as follows: CBF was significantly positively correlated with the number correct on part B of the HSCT (r = 0.481, p = 0.01) and accuracy on the 0-back task of the N-back (r = 0.346, p = 0.031); MTT was significantly positively correlated with accuracy on the 2-back task of the N-back (r = 0.349, p = 0.034) and factor 5 of the DEX (r = 0.359, p = 0.032); and TTP was significantly positively correlated with the number correct on part B of the HSCT (r = 0.402, p = 0.034) and the 1-back reaction time of the N-back (r = 0.356, p = 0.026). CONCLUSIONS The patients with MMD exhibited impairments in semantic inhibition, executive processing, working memory, and sustained attention, but they were not aware of these deficits. Moreover, differences in dysexecutive function existed between the different subtypes of MMD. Hypoperfusion of the frontal lobe may be related to working memory and semantic inhibition impairments in patients with MMD.

Recent progress in hemorrhagic moyamoya disease

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a chronic progressive cerebrovascular disease, which can be divided into three types: ischemic, hemorrhagic, and asymptomatic. Hemorrhagic MMD has attracted considerable attention due to its distinctive imaging features and the controversy over the treatment. This report presents a comprehensive review of the literature on hemorrhagic MMD, focusing on the epidemiological characteristics, etiology and pathogenesis, imaging features, predictors of hemorrhage, and treatment options and their efficacy of hemorrhagic MMD. Hemorrhagic MMD mainly occurs in adult patients in Asian countries, and many factors may contribute to the etiology and development of this disease. Hemorrhagic MMD has two major imaging features: the dilatation and abnormal branching of anterior choroidal artery or posterior communicating artery, and multiple microbleeds, which may predict subsequent hemorrhage. The treatment for hemorrhagic MMD is not standardized, and large sample prospective randomized clinical trials may help to determine which method is better. In hemorrhagic MMD patients, more attention should be paid to cognitive function and quality of life, and these assessments should be included in the evaluation of effectiveness of treatment modalities.

Cognitive function, depression, anxiety and quality of life in Chinese patients with untreated unruptured intracranial aneurysms

Detected unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIA) are becoming more common with the increased utilization of CT angiography, MR angiography and digital subtraction angiography. A proportion of patients with UIA remain untreated. We investigated to assess cognitive function, depression, anxiety and quality of life (QoL) in Chinese patients with untreated UIA. Thirty one Chinese patients with untreated UIA and 25 healthy controls were identified and matched for variables including age, sex, and living area. Cognitive function was evaluated with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Depression, anxiety and QoL were screened with the Self-Rating Depression Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Short Form-36, respectively. Non-parametric tests were used for comparisons between groups. No patient had cognitive dysfunction at 1 month or 1 year after detection of UIA. However, a significant decrease of overall MoCA subscores was found in 30 (97%) of 31 patients 5 years after UIA discovery, suggestive of mild cognitive impairment. A significant decrease in depression and anxiety was found in patients over time. QoL in patients was reduced most prominently in psychosocial function and social activities 1 year after detection of UIA, but these improved to within normal limits at the end of the follow-up period. For Chinese patients with untreated UIA, depression, anxiety and reduced QoL may be short-term complications. Mild cognitive impairment may be a long-term complication.