Neurocognitive Effects of Radiation Therapy in Pediatric Brain Tumor Survivors
Smith, Samantha E.
:
2012-03-29
Abstract
This study characterizes the neurocognitive late effects of treatment in pediatric
brain tumor survivors by examining patterns of executive function, coping, emotional
outcomes, and brain activation. We examined associations among these variables and their
relationship to prefrontal cortex activation in 20 children and adolescents ages 8 to 16‐
years old who completed treatment for a pediatric brain tumor with 20 healthy controls
matched on age and sex. We found partial support for our hypothesis that survivors
perform worse than healthy controls on these domains and that activation patterns during
executive function tasks differ. No causal relationship among executive function, coping,
and emotional outcome variables was found. Findings suggest that neurocognitive deficits
in survivors may be associated with impairment in prefrontal cortex integrity.