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The effects of treatment for posterior fossa brain tumors on selective attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

DONALD J. MABBOTT ,
JANICE J. SNYDER ,
LOUISE PENKMAN  and
ADRIENNE WITOL
DONALD J. MABBOTT*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
JANICE J. SNYDER
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
LOUISE PENKMAN
Affiliation:
Southern Alberta Children’s Cancer Program, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
ADRIENNE WITOL
Affiliation:
Northern Alberta Children’s Cancer Program, Stollery Children’s Hospital/University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Donald Mabbott, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada. E-mail: donald.mabbott@sickkiids.ca
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Abstract

We sought to identify whether deficits in selective attention are present in pediatric brain tumor patients. Selective attention was assessed with covert-orienting, filtering, and visual-search tasks in 54 patients with either (1) posterior fossa (PF) tumors treated with cranial radiation and surgery (n = 22); (2) PF tumors treated with surgery alone (n = 17); or (3) non-CNS tumors (n = 15), who served as a patient control group. To account for normal development, patient performance was also compared with that of healthy age-matched controls (n = 10). We found that in PF tumor patients selective attention was impaired, regardless of whether they were treated with cranial radiation and surgery or surgery alone. However, patients treated with cranial radiation were most impaired. These patients may have greater damage to posterior brain regions know to mediate selective attention as the result of tumor location, effects of surgery, and higher doses of radiation to the posterior regions of the brain. These findings help to elucidate the potential impact of pediatric brain tumors and their treatment on discrete attentional skills. (JINS, 2009, 15, 205–216.)

Keywords

Brain neoplasmCognition disordersChild psychologyPosterior cranial fossaRadiotherapySurgery
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 205 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © INS 2009

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