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VIEW ALL NEWSChildhood CNS tumors may have lasting consequences
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adult survivors of childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors are vulnerable to disability caused by therapy as well as by the tumors themselves, Swedish researchers report in the September issue of the European Journal of Cancer.
"We now have reliable evidence that certain late effects persist," lead investigator Dr. Krister K. Boman told Reuters Health. These to "some extent may aggravate in adulthood among pediatric CNS tumor survivors."
Dr. Boman of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and colleagues came to this conclusion after analyzing 531 survey responses from survivors aged more than 18 years and 72 from parent-proxies. These were compared with those of 996 controls drawn from the general population.
Assessment via the Health Utilities Index Mark 2/3 showed that the survivors had persistent late effects in sensation, mobility, self-care and cognition. The most severe subnormality was found in cognition, sensation and overall health.
Late effects tended to increase with time, and female survivors had poorer health. Survivors of oligodendroglioma, mixed and unspecified glioma, intracranial germ cell tumor, and medulloblastoma survivors had the poorest overall health.
"The outcomes," Dr. Boman pointed out, "provide guidance not only that clinical follow-up needs to extended to cover adulthood. They also identify subgroups at particular risk who require individualized preventive, supportive and rehabilitative intervention to reduce disability due to brain tumor and treatment-related late effects."
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