Evaluation and cognitive rehabilitation in pediatric cancer: A case report

Abstract

Cancer surviving children, whose disease and treatment involves the central nervous system, show a consistent pattern of neurocognitive deficits. We report a case diagnose of a 9 years boy with posterior fossa tumor treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Neuropsychological evaluation post oncological therapies and post Cognitive Remediation Program (CRP) were made to document the effect of neuropsychological rehabilitation. The results of the post oncological therapies evaluation shows deficits in Constructional Skills, Visual and Auditory Attention, Percentage of Correct Answers and Correct Designs with Minimal Movements, Speed in Reading and Writing, Graphic Skills, Visual Coding, Verbal and Visual Memory, Perception Touch, Repetition and Comprehension of Language, Conceptual Skills, Verbal and Graphics Fluency, Reading Accuracy, Narrative Composition, Count, Numerical and Calculation Management. After CRP our results illustrate an increase in the score of: Graphic Skills, Verbal Memory, Speech and Language Understanding, Conceptual Skills, Verbal and Graphics Fluency, Count, Numerical Management, Calculation and Logical Mathematical Reasoning after CRP. With the implementation of standardized measures of Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil we could compare the performance of our patient; which suggests that the CRP has enough potential to counteract some of the neurocognitive sequelae observed after tumor resection and radio and chemotherapy.