Después de la cirugía de moyamoya en Duke, la persona regresa a su vida normal

Despite changing her diet and exercising more, Marisa Chow's high blood pressure wasn't budging. Then the numbness began: at first, it was just her right leg. "I would be sitting at work at my desk typing, and I would get up to go do something, and I couldn't walk…I was scared to go out and do anything by myself because I wasn't sure if I was going to fall."

During a grocery store trip, the entire right side of Chow's body went numb, and then one side of her face began to sag. Chow called her husband, who rushed her to the emergency room. She was shocked to learn she'd had a stroke. "To see yourself with a facial droop and not be able to talk is so scary, and I couldn't imagine that happening again. It's an experience that I wouldn't want for anybody," Chow said.

Chow went to a neurologist to find out what was going on. After many tests, a doctor noticed twisted veins in Chow's neck and brain -- a telltale sign of Moyamoya disease.

Moyamoya usually starts with the carotid arteries, two main blood vessels on each side of the neck that supply blood to the brain. Eventually, they become so narrow that they shut down. Then smaller blood vessels in the brain start shutting down. The brain adapts by creating tiny new vessels, but they're too small to transport enough blood to the brain. This can cause stroke-like symptoms. On imaging scans, these vessels look like a puff of smoke, which is translated as "moyamoya" in Japanese.

On the day of Chow's diagnosis, her doctor in Charlotte said he wanted to operate two weeks later. Chow wasn't ready to commit to brain surgery so soon, so she sought a second opinion at Duke Health.

"I did a lot of research, and Dr. Hauck just kept popping up," Chow said. "He specializes in Moyamoya, which I found a lot of comfort in, and there was just something about his energy. When you meet with him, he's so calm and confident. Nothing felt rushed."

Dr. Hauck told Chow she was a great candidate for cerebral bypass surgery, but it didn't have to happen right away. "He also said, you're not going to die tomorrow. You'll be okay. If you want to go have a summer vacation," Chow said. "It made me feel at peace. I'm like, okay, everything is going to be fine. Yes, this is a scary procedure, but I get to work with a doctor who's super confident, super calm, and he went over everything, including any potential complications, how the procedure would actually go, how recovery would go. It wasn't a rushed conversation, and I think that first impression is what sold me."

During cerebral artery bypass surgery, a healthy artery (usually one near the ear that is about as thick as a sewing needle) is removed and attached to a healthy artery in the brain. The increase in blood flow is immediate. Eventually, the harvested vessel grows to six or seven times its original size, which further improves blood flow.

"The surgery is very delicate," Dr. Hauck said. "There are so many steps involved, and they all have to be perfect, one leading to the next. If one part is not right, then the whole thing doesn't work." Even though Moyamoya disease is rare, Dr. Hauck and his colleagues routinely perform cerebral artery bypass surgery in people who come to Duke from all over the country. That experience and expertise is crucial.

Chow underwent cerebral artery bypass surgery in August 2025 and went home five days later. "Overall, the recovery process was actually very easy," she said. "For someone who likes to do a lot of things, who works a lot, not being able to do any of that was probably the hardest part."

Today, Chow is back to normal life. She sees Dr. Hauck several times a year to monitor her brain. "I feel like I'm gaining back my momentum and my strength," Chow said. "It's nice to see how far I've come."