Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:19:4
David Goodhue - AHN Reporter
Los Angeles,CA (AHN) - Survivors of childhood brain tumors face a lifetime of cognitive problems, lower levels of education, employment and income compared to their siblings and survivors of other types of cancer, according to a large, multi-university study led by University of California, Los Angeles researchers.
The researchers said in a statement that their findings show an increased need to teach childhood brain cancer survivors strategies to transition to a successful adult life. The study was based on a questionnaire given to 785 survivors of childhood brain cancer, 5,780 survivors of other types of cancer like leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and bone cancer, and 379 siblings of brain cancer survivors.
The researchers said that the greatest neurocognitive problems were seen in children who had significant motor or sensory problems after treatment, who were treated with radiation to their brains and who had tumors in the brain cortex, rather than the lower regions of the brain.
The study appears in the November issue of the journal Neuropsychology.
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