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Mayo Clinic Minute: Innovative treatments for moyamoya disease
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Doctors are using innovative procedures to improve the quality of life for people living with a blood vessel disorder called moyamoya disease.
"With moyamoya, the large vessels ─ the pipes that go to the brain ─ get narrow and small," says Dr. Bernard Bendok, chair of the Neurosurgery Department at Mayo Clinic's Arizona campus.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, moyamoya means “puff of smoke” in Japanese and describes the look of the tangle of tiny vessels formed when the brain tries to overcome the narrowing of the pathways.
"The brain starts to compensate by having its tiny vessels get bigger," explains Dr. Bendok. "But there is a tipping point beyond which it can do no more."
In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Bendok explains what surgeons are now able to do to boost the brain's ability to overcome moyamoya disease. Jeff Olsen reports.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (1:00) is in the downloads. Read the script.
