Posterior Fossa Society Consensus Meeting 2018: a synopsis

The Posterior Fossa Society (PFS) was founded 4 years ago to systematically gather and exchange information on the post-operative (CMS) and cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS). With its consensus meetings, the PFS orchestrates research studies in the field of cerebellar injury and progresses the knowledge of post-operative pediatric cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS). In this article, we captured the 3-day program of presentations, group discussions, interactive workshops, and dialogue, highlighting the key topic areas of CMS and its research advances.

This synopsis is based on the third consensus meeting which was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, in August 2018.

Three working groups have been defined to drive the future research priorities on post-surgical CMS: (i) refining definition and symptoms scoring of CMS; (ii) understanding the pathogenesis and enhancing risk-stratification strategies; and (iii) developing rehabilitation approaches and protocols.

The third consensus meeting highlighted a unanimous desire for data-driven information to advance the knowledge and guide future research efforts. The PFS constitutes an established and expanding network of multi-disciplinary expertise that can facilitate the development of collaborative studies and produce official guidelines on the topic.