Key points from today’s guests:
Narissa Elrod, living with moyamoya disease
- At just 10 years old, Narissa lost her mother to a rare blood vessel disease called moyamoya, which causes arteries in the brain to constrict, blocking blood flow and causing blood clots.
- Five years after her mother’s death, Narissa began to have the same symptoms, including mini strokes.
- It wasn’t until her late 20s when she was referred to The University of Kansas Health System, where they conducted two brain surgeries.
- Her recovery consisted of being in bed for a few weeks, but getting up and active when she could.
- She is back to a normal life, looking forward to turning 30 and planning to go to cosmetology school.
Dr. Paul Camerata, neurosurgeon, clinical service chief, neurosurgery, The University of Kansas Health System
- We're a tertiary care referral center so we get referrals from all over the Midwest. We have a number of physicians in our department that specialize specifically in cerebral vascular operations -- procedures on blood vessels of the brain. They've had special training after a normal seven-year neurosurgical residency to be able to spend another year or two specializing in microsurgeries.
- Moyamoya is an extremely rare disease. There may be only 5,000 people in the United States with it. It's very, very rare and so you can't blame a pediatrician or an internist for not necessarily detecting it because the cause of a seizure or a stroke is much less likely to be this disease than it is something else.
- If you do have a relative that has it, you're probably 30 times more likely to have it.
- Surgery involves multiple procedures that help improve the flow of blood in the brain.
- The technology has really evolved through the years to detect moyamoya and operate on the brain to address it.
- It is important for anyone having blood flow issues to the brain to get it checked by specialized centers.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- The COVID inpatient count has jumped to 33 this week, an increase from 19 last week.
- We are a couple of weeks from Thanksgiving, where there was a lot of travel and family gatherings, so the jump in cases could be related to those activities.
- Respiratory viral season is in full swing.
- New studies have found the COVID vaccine is effective against new variants.
- Only 16 percent of U.S. adults have received the updated vaccine.
Tuesday, December 12 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Parkinson's can be scary, but why live in fear? We visit an exercise center giving people living with Parkinson's a sense of well-being and community.
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