Efficacy of Surgical Treatment on the Recurrent Stroke Prevention for Adult Patients With Hemorrhagic Moyamoya Disease

It remains controversial about the optimal treatment of adult hemorrhagic moyamoya disease (MMD). In this study, the authors performed a meta-analysis to determine whether surgical treatment of adult hemorrhagic MMD is superior to conservative treatment. A systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central databases was performed for articles published until May 2017. Randomized-controlled trials and cohort studies about the efficacy of surgical treatment and conservative treatment in patients with hemorrhagic MMD at 16 years of age or older were selected. Recurrent stroke incidence including hemorrhagic and ischemic events at the end of the follow-up period was calculated between the 2 groups with a 95% confidence interval (CI). A total of 3 articles (including 146 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. There were significant differences between the 2 groups when the authors compared the overall recurrent stroke rate at the end of the follow-up period. Surgical treatment significantly reduced the risk of stroke (risk ratio, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.24-0.76; P = 0.004). The current meta-analysis suggests that surgical treatment is better for conservative treatment in adult hemorrhagic MMD with recurrent stroke rate. Future studies are required to confirm this conclusion.