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Quality of Life

Neuropsychological resiliency after treatment for advanced stage neuroblastoma

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 35, pages 1117–1122 (2005)Cite this article

Summary:

The purpose of this study was to describe the neuropsychological functioning of survivors of advanced stage neuroblastoma. In all, 16 survivors, diagnosed at a median of 2.8 years, who had received intensive chemotherapy and surgical treatments, were identified; 11 had received myeloablative consolidation therapy, eight with total body irradiation (TBI). All patients were evaluated with a neuropsychological assessment battery at a median age of 8.8 years. Analyses included comparison of the performances of the TBI group vs the no-TBI group; determination of whether the proportion of individuals with impaired or superior performance on each measure exceeded normative expectations; and performance indexes reflecting patterns of performance. Results indicate no significant deleterious impact of TBI and/or presence or absence of myeloablative therapy on neurocognitive and neurobehavioral functioning. For this cohort, resilience to neuropsychological vulnerability was observed, which included the emergence of a profile of full-scale IQ, verbal IQ, and mathematical achievement well above average expectations. We concluded that the results document a lack of neuropsychological morbidity among this cohort of survivors of advanced stage neuroblastoma, regardless of the inclusion of TBI. Moreover, a striking pattern of excellent neurocognitive functioning with intact neurobehavioral functioning was observed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The Daniel Pitino Foundation, the Elizabeth Childs Murphy Trust and the David B Perini Jr Quality of Life Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    S C Carpentieri

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    S C Carpentieri

  3. Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    L R Diller

  4. Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    L R Diller

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    L R Diller

Authors
  1. S C Carpentieri
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  2. L R Diller
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Correspondence to S C Carpentieri.

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Carpentieri, S., Diller, L. Neuropsychological resiliency after treatment for advanced stage neuroblastoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 35, 1117–1122 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1704947

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