A sudden stroke in his 30s when he was fine.
Cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke are often caused in older people, and surprisingly, there are cerebrovascular diseases that occur a lot in their 30s. The name itself is unique ‘Moyamoya disease’. It is also known that the incidence rate in East Asia, including Korea and Japan, is about 10 times higher than that in the West. Find out the cause, symptoms, and treatment of moyamoya disease.
Moyamoya disease is the occurrence of stenosis or obstruction at the end of the “internal carotid artery” inside the skull for no particular reason. Japanese medical scientists who first discovered it named it “Moyamoya,” as the cerebral aneurysm of patients with Moyamoya disease resembled “the shape of cigarette smoke rising.”
It is not a very common disease, but there are also 200 to 300 cases a year in Korea. Recently, MRI tests have become widely available and interest in cerebrovascular disease has increased, increasing the diagnosis rate compared to the past. The most common cases are those under the age of 10, followed by those between 30 and 40 years and 40 years old.
The exact cause of Moyamoya’s disease was not known. Research has shown that genetic polymorphism called “R4810K” is strongly related to the outbreak. There are also reports that it is related to acquired factors such as infections, so it is estimated that it occurs when genetic background and environmental factors work together.
Symptoms vary greatly depending on the age of the outbreak. When children develop an outbreak, the blood vessels in the brain are usually narrowed, causing temporary ischemic seizures. Symptoms are observed, such as sudden shortness of breath and momentary loss of strength in one arm and leg. On the other hand, when an adult develops a disease, brain hemorrhage is often the first symptom, and there is a high possibility of leaving a permanent disorder. Sometimes, there are no symptoms other than headaches.
If an outbreak occurs in children or adolescents, the disease progresses quickly and treatment should be started early. In adults, if asymptomatic, no treatment can be performed and progress is observed. If blood flow degradation is severe, preventive surgery can be performed, and if there are symptoms, the degree of progress of the disease is considered to determine whether to treat it or not. If symptoms of ischemia occur repeatedly, surgery takes precedence, and sap control is administered to prevent complications even after surgery. After surgery, you should be careful about behaviors that may cause stimulating food or hyperventilation.