Moyamoya disease

Moyamoya syndrome is a disease in which certain arteries in the brain are constricted. Blood flow is blocked by the constriction, and also by blood clots (thrombosis).

A collateral circulation develops around the blocked vessels to compensate for the blockage, but the collateral vessels are small, weak, and prone to hemorrhage, aneurysm and thrombosis. On conventional X-ray angiography, these collateral vessels have the appearance of a "puff of smoke" (described as "もやもや (moyamoya)" in Japanese).