To determine the quality of survival for children with posterior fossa tumors, comprehensive neuropsychological, behavioral, and academic assessment and physician ratings of functional status were obtained on 15 brain tumor patients (ages 6-19 years) at a median of 20 months post-diagnosis. More than 50% of the children (whether irradiated or not) experienced major problems in academic, motor, sensory, cognitive, and emotional function. All but two children were reported by teachers to be "slow workers," and four of 15 patients were able to maintain their school work in regular classes. Although 80% of the patients were rated by physicians as having "excellent" or "good" functional status, no relationship was found between these global ratings and psychometric measures. Although the affected site was the posterior fossa, deficits also involved higher cortical function. These findings indicate the need for further evaluation of treatment effects and the provision of intervention for survivors.

Nausea, vomiting, and the extent to which chemotherapy-bothered children were assessed by patient and parent ratings for 31 children (65 courses) receiving combination chemotherapy with either high-dose cyclophosphamide or doxorubicin/daunorubicin. Patients and parents both reported more severe vomiting with cyclophosphamide than with the anthracyclines. The use of antiemetics did not affect emesis for the former drug; for the anthracyclines, there was more severe emesis for courses with antiemetics than for those with none. Adolescents reported more severe nausea than children, and females reported both more nausea and bother than males. There were no significant age or sex findings for parent reports. The findings suggest that chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in children is a complex phenomenon not accounted for by drugs alone.

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