ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Endovascular and Interventional Neurology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1598387
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Trends in Moyamoya Disease: Diagnostic and Therapeutic InnovationsView all 3 articles
Temporal Muscle Thickness as a Preoperative Predictor of Motor Aphasia in Moyamoya Disease
Provisionally accepted
- 1Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
- 2Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
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Objective: Postoperative motor aphasia is a common complication following left-sided combined revascularization surgery for Moyamoya disease (MMD), yet reliable preoperative predictors remain unavailable.This study evaluates preoperative Temporal Muscle Thickness (TMT), a novel MRI-based parameter, as a predictive biomarker for this complication.We retrospectively analyzed 34 adult MMD patients who underwent left-sided combined revascularization between April 2021 and June 2023. Preoperative TMT was measured on axial MRI using multi-planar reformation. Statistical analyses (e.g., t-tests) were employed to assess the association between preoperative TMT and the incidence, timing, and duration of postoperative motor aphasia.Results: Excluding complications like infarction, postoperative aphasia occurred in 28/34 patients (82.35%), predominantly pure motor aphasia (25/34, 73.53%), typically emerging on the third postoperative day with a median duration of 4 days. Patients who developed aphasia had significantly greater mean preoperative TMT compared to those who did not (7.08 ± 1.00 mm vs 5.70 ± 0.68 mm, respectively; P = 0.003).Furthermore, greater preoperative TMT showed a positive correlation with a longer duration of postoperative aphasia (r = 0.4907, P = 0.0032).Our findings confirm that TMT independently predicts the occurrence and severity of postoperative motor aphasia in MMD patients after left-sided revascularization. This MRI metric enhances risk stratification, guiding surgical planning and patient counseling. Further studies are needed to validate its utility and explore preventive measures.
Keywords: MMD, TMT, MRI, Motor Aphasia, Combination Revascularization
Received: 23 Mar 2025; Accepted: 08 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Liu, Gao, Guo, Zhu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Liming Zhao, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
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