Cerebellar mutism after posterior cranial fossa surgery

Mutism is a rare sequel of PCF tumor removal. Three patients aged 5 to 20 years old with mutism after posterior fossa surgery are presented. Suboccipital craniectomy was performed in all patients with grossly total removal of a medulloblastoma. The mutism that may occur after an operation for a PCF lesion has been explained in functional and/or organic terms. To date, 24 similar cases of mutism following cerebellar operations have been reported in the literature. We review the features of the syndrome in the light of the published cases and speculate on the underlying physiopathology. The absence of long tract or other brain stem signs, together with a presence of dysarthria during the recovery of speech, suggested a organic cerebellar cause of the mutism.