MRI-Based Assessment of Risk for Stroke in Moyamoya Angiopathy (MARS-MMA): An MRI-Based Scoring System for the Severity of Moyamoya Angiopathy

Before revascularization, moyamoya patients require hemodynamic evaluation. In this study, we evaluated the scoring system , (PIRAMID). We also devised a new scoring system, (MARS-MMA), and compared the scoring systems with respect to the capability to predict impaired [ O]water PET cerebral perfusion reserve capacity (CPR). We evaluated 69 MRI, 69 DSA and 38 [ O]water PET data sets. The PIRAMID system was validated by ROC curve analysis with neurological symptomatology as a dependent variable. The components of the MARS-MMA system and their weightings were determined by binary logistic regression analysis. The comparison of PIRAMID and MARS-MMA was performed by ROC curve analysis. The PIRAMID score correlated well with the symptomatology (AUC = 0.784). The MARS-MMA system, including impaired breath-hold-fMRI, the presence of the Ivy sign and arterial wall contrast enhancement, correlated slightly better with CPR impairment than the PIRAMID system (AUC = 0.859 vs. 0.827, Akaike information criterion 140 vs. 146). For simplified clinical use, we determined three MARS-MMA grades without loss of diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.855). The entirely MRI-based MARS-MMA scoring system might be a promising tool to predict the risk of stroke.