Correlation of neurocognitive function and brain parenchyma volumes in children surviving cancer

Wilburn E. Reddick; Holly A. White; John O. Glass; Raymond K. Mulhern

doi:10.1117/12.463606

24 April 2002 Correlation of neurocognitive function and brain parenchyma volumes in children surviving cancer

Wilburn E. Reddick, Holly A. White, John O. Glass, Raymond K. Mulhern

Proceedings Volume 4683, Medical Imaging 2002: Physiology and Function from Multidimensional Images; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463606
Event: Medical Imaging 2002, 2002, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This research builds on our hypothesis that white matter damage and associated neurocognitive symptoms, in children treated for cancer with cranial spinal irradiation, spans a continuum of severity that can be reliably probed using non-invasive MR technology. Quantitative volumetric assessments of MR imaging and psychological assessments were obtained in 40 long-term survivors of malignant brain tumors treated with cranial irradiation. Neurocognitive assessments included a test of intellect (Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), attention (Conner's Continuous Performance Test), and memory (California Verbal Learning Test). One-sample t-tests were conducted to evaluate test performance of survivors against age-adjusted scores from the test norms; these analyses revealed significant impairments in all apriori selected measures of intelligence, attention, and memory. Partial correlation analyses were performed to assess the relationships between brain tissues volumes (normal appearing white matter (NAWM), gray matter, and CSF) and neurocognitive function. Global intelligence (r = 0.32, p = 0.05) and global attentional (r = 0.49, p < 0.01) were significantly positively correlated with NAWM volumes, whereas global memory was significantly positively correlated with overall brain parenchyma (r = 0.38, p = 0.04). We conclude that quantitative assessment of MR examinations in survivors of childhood cancer treated with cranial irradiation reveal that loss of NAWM is associated with decreased intellectual and attentional deficits, whereas overall parenchyma loss, as reflected by increased CSF and decreased white matter, is associated with memory-related deficits.

Citation Download Citation

Wilburn E. Reddick, Holly A. White, John O. Glass, and Raymond K. Mulhern "Correlation of neurocognitive function and brain parenchyma volumes in children surviving cancer", Proc. SPIE 4683, Medical Imaging 2002: Physiology and Function from Multidimensional Images, (24 April 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463606

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