Paige had her check up at St.Jude's this week and we met with a neurosurgeon,Dr.Boop.Her MRI showed that her moya moya has gotten worse since her last MRI in February.Dr.Boop said that she needs surgery asap.He couldn't believe that the surgeon at Vanderbilt in Nashville wanted to wait to do the surgery.He wants to do the surgery at LeBonheur Children's in Memphis which is where most of the major surgeries for St.Jude patients are done.He said that according to the angiogram from March,there is just a trickle of blood flow in that area and that surgery needs to be done within the next couple of months.He was shocked to learn that the surgeon from Vanderbilt had blamed me for Paige having MM.He says she needs the direct bypass because he is afraid she doesn't have the time to wait for the new blood vessels to form after an indirect bypass.She will need another angiogram to determine if she is a candidate for the direct bypass.He is calling this type an EC/IC surgery.I have emailed him asking if this is the same as the STA/MCA but I haven't heard from him yet.Does anyone know if the 2 surgeries are the same?If she can't have this one,he will do the EDAS.Since Paige's insurance denied the request for surgery by Dr.Steinberg,we were very worried about surgery being done at Vanderbilt.Now,it is such a relief that it will be done at a hospital that we trust and by an ethical doctor.I will continue to keep everyone updated as we find out more.

Jennifer

Jennifer,

I realize this may be a little late, but yes, EC/IC is the same as the STA-MCA surgery.

EC/IC stands for "External Carotid/Internal Carotid".

STA-MCA stands for "Superficial Temporal Artery" (External Carotid) - "Middle Cerebral Artery" (Internal Carotid).

It's a direct surgery vs. an indirect surgery.  Does that make sense?

DJ