What Is Moyamoya?

By james

Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky

Article Sources

Medical Expert

More About Us

The brain is an astonishingly powerful biological machine, and is the most advanced machine that we are aware of in the entire universe. As something so powerful, however, it also needs a lot of fuel. For the brain, this fuel means a lot of nutrients from the food we eat, and also oxygen from the air we breathe.

Supplying this fuel is not usually a problem as our brains are well served by an extensive system of blood vessels. If something was to go wrong with this network, however, then our brain will not get the fuel that it needs. There are numerous potential things that can go wrong and moyamoya disease is one of them.

1. Moyamoya

Moyamoya disease is a very rare type of vascular disorder. The word moyamoya is Japanese, and it translates into English as ‘a puff of smoke’. The name was given because of the appearance of the condition when seen on an X-ray. Patients with the condition will have a carotid artery that is narrower than usual.

This causes more blood vessels to be formed at the base of the brain to try and compensate for the lower than usual blood supply. The disease can affect people of all ages, but children are most likely to be affected by it. while it is found worldwide, it is more common in China, Japan, and Korea.