Jakarta (May 24) – The Prof. Dr. Mahar Mardjono National Brain Center (PON) Hospital in Jakarta officially launched the Moyamoya and Complex Cerebrovascular Disease Center, designed as a national center of excellence for the diagnosis, management, training, and research of difficult-to-treat vascular brain diseases. It was established through an international collaboration with the Far East Neurosurgical Institute, Japan, led by Prof. Rokuya Tanikawa, a pioneer in brain bypass surgery and a world-renowned expert in moyamoya disease. The inauguration was combined with the International Workshop on Cerebral Vascular Bypass and Management of Complex Neurosurgical Cases, which was attended by nearly 100 participants from various institutions in Indonesia. The event brought together neurosurgery and neurovascular experts from various countries, including Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mexico, Portugal, and Columbia. Among the renowned institutions in attendance were experts from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Hong Kong), who were directly involved in the training in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Association of Neurosurgeons, introducing various cutting-edge techniques in complex vascular neurosurgery. The President Director of RS PON, Dr. Adin Nulkhasanah, Sp.N Mars, emphasized that this center will also pave the way for international research collaboration, the development of innovative techniques, and strengthen Indonesia's role in the global vascular neurosurgery scientific community. Although relatively rare, RS PON already handles around 70 cases a year. The incidence is predicted to be much higher than reported. The trend in many countries, such as Japan, is 0.5 per 100,000 people. Stroke cases are not always related to "classic" causes such as an unhealthy lifestyle and a history of comorbidities. Some patients experience strokes in their 20s and 30s or even younger, with a genetic background. One such patient is a patient with moya-moya. Moya-moya is a genetic disorder that affects the blood vessels in the brain, specifically the internal carotid artery. This artery narrows and can even become blocked, reducing blood flow to the brain. This narrowing causes new, small blood vessels to form around the blocked area. These blood vessels appear as puffs of smoke on an angiogram, hence the name moyamoya, which means puff of smoke in Japanese.