Adult Survivors of Brain Cancer, Childhood Tumors can Experience Lingering Difficulties

• comments
• 
• 

About 700,000 people in the United States are living with a primary brain and central nervous system tumor, and an estimated 4,600 children aged 0 to 19 will be diagnosed with a primary brain tumor this 2016, as per the American Brain Tumor Association.

A new study published in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology" reveals how adults who survived childhood brain tumors may have some lingering effects of the illness, such as treatment-related thinking, attention, and memory problems, HealthDay reports.

Researchers led by Tara Brinkman from the departments of Epidemiology and Cancer Control and Psychology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, analyzed 224 adults aged 19 to 53 who survived brain tumors. These patients were treated through radiation to the whole brain and spinal cord, radiation on the tumor location, or no radiation at all. Another group was given a shunt to drain out the cerebrospinal fluid that built up in the brain.

According to Eurekalert, the study subjects were tested on their intelligence, memory, attention and academic ability. Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about the effect of cognitive problems on daily life and reported on their educational attainment, employment, and independent living.

Researchers found that patients who were treated with craniospinal radiation were three times more at risk for severe impairment in intelligence compared to their counterparts who were not treated with radiation. They also had impairments in other cognitive skills like attention and memory. The patients who underwent radiations were also four times more at risk of severely impaired academic skills. Researchers also found that these patients were more likely to be unemployed and living with parents or caretakers. Hydrocephalus was linked to poor cognitive function even decades following the treatment.

According to Brinkman, their study was the most comprehensive analysis of a large number of adult survivors of pediatric brain tumors, which assessed their cognitive function and how it affected their social attainment. According to US News and World Report, the study is also the first to report on the long-term outcomes for several types of brain tumors. The study compared the long-term effects of traditional radiation therapies that targeted the whole brain compared to newer radiation therapies that more precisely targets the tumor using the 3-D beam.

"We hope to help these kids while they are on therapy, to prevent the onset of some of these neurocognitive difficulties," Brinkman said. "For the survivors who have finished therapy, we want to intervene to mitigate such problems, so they don't develop into the severe problems we are seeing with the current adult survivors."