B – 4 Potential Long-Term Improvements on Speeded Tasks in Adults Following STA-MCA Bypass for Moyamoya Disease

Abstract Objective Psychomotor speed and processing efficiency deficits have been observed in the limited existing literature examining cognitive sequelae in moyamoya disease (MMD). Such deficits have been attributed to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion resulting from the disease and the associated damage to subcortical white matter, particularly in the frontoparietal network. As the primary treatment for MMD, revascularization surgery has shown promise in improving speeded abilities in this population. Method Eight adults with MMD who underwent cerebral bypass surgery (Meducation=14.13; 75%female; 75%White, 12.5%Black, 12.5%Hispanic) were neuropsychologically evaluated at three time points: presurgical (T1;Mage=32.5), postsurgical (T2;Mage=33.3), and at subsequent follow-up (T3;Mage=34.9). Average time between evaluations was 13.25 and 17.13 months, respectively. Patients were administered the Trail Making Test (TMT), Stroop Color-Word Test (Stroop), and Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT). One-way ANOVA assessed differences in speeded cognitive and motoric performance across time points. Results Overall cognitive performance did not show significant changes over time (TMT-A, F(2,21)=0.084, p=.919, η2=.01; Stroop Word, F(2,21)=0.815, η2=.07, p=.456; GPT-dominant hand (DH), F(2,21)=0.276, p=.761, η2=.03; GPT-nondominant hand (NDH), F(2,21)=1.740, p=.200, η2=.14). However, post-hoc analyses demonstrated trends of subtle improvement (T-scores) on the TMT-A (T1=38.0, T2=38.6, T3=42.1), Stroop Word (T1=35.8, T2=41.8, T3=43.4), GPT-DH (T1=28.0, T2=32.5, T3=32.9), and GPT-NDH (T1=29.7, T2=36.5, T3=38.6). Conclusion Findings support potential long-term improvements on speeded tasks following cerebral bypass surgery for MMD. Given the limited sample size, it is critical that these methods be replicated in a larger sample to determine whether the observed trends persist with greater statistical power and to evaluate the extent to which they may translate into clinically meaningful outcomes.