No abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Chordoma and chondrosarcoma of the skull base are rare tumors with overlapping presentations and anatomic imaging features but different prognoses. We hypothesized that these tumors might be distinguished by using diffusionweighted MR imaging.

Survivors of pediatric brain tumor and healthy children differed in brain activation during completion of a working memory task, and brain activation was associated with deficits noted in testing. These findings may improve understanding of mechanisms of cognitive deficits and avenues for intervention for children with brain tumors.

Deficits in neurocognitive functioning are an important area of late effects in survivors of pediatric brain tumors; however, a quantitative analysis of the magnitude of these deficits in survivors of brain tumors of the posterior fossa has not been conducted. Despite tumor locations in the posterior regions of the brain, individual studies have documented deficits in a variety of domains, reflective of impairment in other brain regions. The current study provides a comprehensive meta-analysis of literature on neurocognitive late effects found in survivors of posterior fossa tumors. Results indicated significant deficits in both specific and broad indices of neurocognitive functioning, and the overall magnitude of effects across domains ranged from medium to large (g = -0.62 to -1.69) with a large mean overall effect size (g = -1.03). Moderator analyses indicated significantly greater effects for survivors diagnosed at a younger age and those who received radiation therapy. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring neurocognitive late effects in survivors of pediatric brain tumors of the posterior fossa, as well as the need for more consistent consideration of demographic, diagnostic, and treatment-related variables to allow for examination of factors that moderate these deficits.