Impact of COVID-19 pandemic in natural course of Moyamoya Angiopathy: an experience from tertiary-care-center in India

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 mediated immune dysregulation and cytokine storm can precipitate and aggravate Moyamoya angiopathy (MMA), influencing its disease course. This index study was undertaken to prospectively evaluate the status of neurological symptoms of MMA in relation to COVID-19 affection. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: Follow-up MMA patients of institute’s Stroke-clinic were telephonically interview from 24th March to 30th September, 2020. The first call familiarized them with COVID-19 symptoms and neurological manifestations of MMA, followed by monthly-calls with predesigned questionnaire. Patients with suggestion of COVID-19 underwent nasopharyngeal-swab-testing for COVID-19 Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive cases were subjected to antibody levels for COVID-19 Enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) 8–12 weeks after recovery. During symptomatic phase till 14 days of asymptomatic, they were contacted daily/alternate day. Any new onset/worsening of neurological symptoms were noted. The baseline clinico-radiological details were obtained from stroke-clinic registery. Subsequently, all data were analyzed and compared using descriptive statistics. Seventy four of 104 MMA patients could be contacted and enrolled. The mean age, time since last follow-up and compliance to previously prescribed medication were 23.5 ± 16.1 years, 9.2 ± 1.7 months and 90.5% (n = 67), respectively. Aggravation/new onset neurological symptom were seen in 64.3% (n = 9) of COVID-19 positive MMA (n = 14), of which 8 were seen among the 11 pediatric COVID-19 positive MMA [(Transient ischemic attacks) TIA-4, TIA with headache-1, seizure-2, stroke causing mortality-1]. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 infection can potentiate MMA causing significant morbidity and mortality, especially in children. Providing optimal care for severe diseases (such as MMA) in developing countries during pandemic remains a challenge.