[Intellectual and psychosocial functions in children treated with radiation for brain tumor]

Modern treatment has increased the survival rate for children with brain tumour, but treatment with radiation may lead to late adverse neuropsychologic effects. Also, peer problems may follow long periods away from school, and painful treatment and anxiety about the disease may mobilize emotional stress reactions. 16 brain tumour children with a mean age of 11 years (range 6-16 years), all of them treated with radiation, were tested with WISC-R. The mean time between diagnosis and study was five years (range 2-11 years). Parents and teachers completed the Achenbach check lists CBCL and TRF. Children below age four years at diagnosis achieved the lowest WISC-R IQs, the highest problem scores and the lowest social adaptive scores on CBCL and TRF. More problems were reported among the youth group aged 12-16 years than among the child group aged 6-11 years. Hypoactivity and low psychomotor speed seemed to have an adverse effect on both intellectual and psychosocial functioning. An almost normal communicative and reasoning ability was a resource for most of the children.