Memory Loss from Radiation Therapy in Pediatric Patients with Brain Tumors
Orange County, CA - September 27th, 2018 - Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood, and it accounts for about 20 percent of all childhood brain tumors. Each year between 250 and 500 children are found to have Medulloblastoma in the United States. The cancerous tumor is slightly more common in boys than girls and usually occurs before the age of 10.
Medulloblastoma is usually treated by surgery with the goal of taking out as much of the tumor as possible. If the tumor has been completely removed, the patient is treated with reduced-dose radiation to the brain and spinal cord before receiving chemotherapy. If some tumor remains after surgery, or if cancer has spread, the patient is given higher-dose radiation therapy before chemotherapy.
A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience finds children treated with radiotherapy from pediatric posterior fossa tumors like Medulloblastoma, are less inclined to recall specific details of events occurring post-radiation than events that happened before. The authors noted this finding significant due to the children having less volume in the hippocampus, which is part of the limbic system that is associated with memory, emotions, and motivation.
Radiotherapy has been found to improve survival rates among these patients; however, radiotherapy significantly affects a developing brain. “Key brain regions that we know are typically involved in autobiographical memory formation and retrieval, especially the hippocampus, are located quite far from the primary tumor bed, and thus far from the site of focal radiation, but given that whole-head radiation and systemic chemotherapy are typically used as part of the treatment protocol, it should not be that surprising that we see brain-wide effects of these treatments,” said lead author Melanie Sekeres, Ph.D., director of Sekeres Memory Laboratory at Baylor University.
The study’s participants involved 13 children who received radiotherapy for posterior fossa tumors at least 1 year before the study; they were accompanied by 28 healthy children around the same age. Every child underwent an MRI of the brain and completed the Children’s Autobiographical Interview, which is a standardized memory test.
The children were asked to recall memories from personal events that occurred at a specific time and place. They were also asked to recall a very old memory from an event before their radiation treatment (or an equally old memory for the healthy children), and a recent memory from within the past month. Children were told to choose from a list of events (family trip, birthday, graduation, etc.), but were told they could choose another event. The children were allowed to freely remember a specific event without being prompted before being asked general and specific questions.
The children treated with radiotherapy reported fewer details of post-treatment events compared to the healthy group. However, all participants reported equivalent details about pre-treatment events. “Given the decreased volume we observed in the hippocampus, and other cortical regions of the recollection network it will be important for follow-up studies to assess differences in neural network activity, and in functional connectivity within these regions using MRI in patients and healthy controls in order to gain a better understanding of potential functional disruptions that may be underlying the observed deficits in memory performance,” Sekeres said.
The researchers are advising clinicians to take their findings into consideration when deciding on treatment options, and that further researcher is required.
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Memory Loss from Radiation Therapy in Pediatric Patients with Brain Tumors Orange County, CA – September 27th, 2018 – Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood, and it accounts for about 20 percent of all childhood brain tumors. Each year between 250 and 500 children are found to have Medulloblastoma in the United States. […]