Childhood brain tumour survivors may face mental issues

New York: Cancer survivors of childhood brain tumours show significant deficits in intelligence, educational achievement and employment, even decades after treatment, reveals a new research. Survivors treated with a whole brain and spinal cord radiation therapy had nearly three times the risk of severe impairment in intelligence, compared with survivors not treated with radiation; as well as similar impairments in other cognitive skills like attention and memory, the study said.

The survivors were also at nearly four-fold increased risk of severely impaired academic skills, the findings showed. In addition, survivors were more likely to be unemployed and to be living with parents or caretakers, the researchers said.

"Our study was the most comprehensive analysis of a large cohort of adult survivors of pediatric brain tumours, with direct assessment of their cognitive functioning and the resulting impact on social attainment," said Tara Brinkman from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee, US.

Researchers tested 224 adult survivors of childhood brain tumours, such as medulloblastoma -- most common type of paediatric malignant primary brain tumour, who were aged 19 to 53 years.