Surgical treatment of moyamoya disease in children

The chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease was first described in 1957 by Takeuchi and Shimizu as hypoplasia of bilateral internal carotid arteries (ICA)(1,2). Later it was considered acquired and progressive, due to stenosis or occlusion of the arteries next to the circle of Willis, with abnormal arteries as collaterals(1-5). In 1967, Suzuki and Takaku introduced the term moyamoya, Japanese word that means hazy, due to the image similar to a puff of smoke at angiography(1,2,4,5). It is a rare disorder that presents mostly ischemic symptoms in children and hemorrhage in adults(1-3,5). The disease induces the formation of a new vascular network (rete mirabilis)(2). We report two cases of the moyamoya disease in children surgically treated.