Fibromuscular Dysplasia

Abstract

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a disease of unknown etiology, commonly affecting women, and involving small to medium sized arteries. The clinical histories of 44 patients with FMD of the great vessels in the neck were reviewed. Twenty-two patients had various cerebrovascular syndromes. In addition, there were a similar number of patients in whom the existence of FMD could not be correlated with the cerebral symptoms, therefore raising a question as to the incidence and significance of this disease in the general population. However, the data obtained tend to support the contentions that FMD involving the great vessels of the neck (1) should be considered as a potentially responsible factor in a few instances of focal ischemic neurologic disease and (2) may be associated with an increased incidence of intracranial aneurysm.