Moyamoya disease and surgical intervention.

Stroke is an increasingly recognized cause of morbidity in the pediatric population. The incidence of ischemic stroke is 1.2 per 100,000 children. There are many known etiologies of childhood cerebral ischemia but moyamoya is one of the only ischemic conditions of childhood that can be effectively treated with surgery. Moyamoya disease is by definition idiopathic, whereas moyamoya syndrome refers to a similar disease course in conjunction with a known predisposing condition. The clinical manifestations and disease progression are similar. Furthermore, surgical treatment has been shown to be efficacious and safe in the treatment of moyamoya.