Investigating the Role of Hypothalamic Tumor Involvement in Sleep and Cognitive Outcomes Among Children Treated for Craniopharyngioma

Objective: Despite excellent survival prognosis, children treated for craniopharyngioma experience significant morbidity. We examined the role of hypothalamic involvement (HI) in excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and attention regulation in children enrolled on a Phase II trial of limited surgery and proton therapy. Methods: Participants completed a sleep evaluation (N = 62) and a continuous performance test (CPT) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; n = 29) prior to proton therapy. Results: EDS was identified in 76% of the patients and was significantly related to increased HI extent (p = .04). There was no relationship between CPT performance during fMRI and HI or EDS. Visual examination of group composite fMRI images revealed greater spatial extent of activation in frontal cortical regions in patients with EDS, consistent with a compensatory activation hypothesis. Conclusion: Routine screening for sleep problems during therapy is indicated for children with craniopharyngioma, to optimize the timing of interventions and reduce long-term morbidity

Children with Down syndrome: Audiological profile (Porter et al., 2022)

Purpose: Down syndrome occurs in one of 700 births, and high rates of hearing loss are reported in this population. This puts children with Down syndrome at risk for communication, learning, and social development difficulties, compounding known language and cognitive vulnerabilities in this population. The purpose of this study was to comprehensively characterize audiological profiles in children with Down syndrome, including the use of extended high-frequency sensitivity and speech intelligibility index assessment. Method: Participants were 18 children with Down syndrome between 5 and 17 years of age. Audiological profiles were characterized using behavioral audiometry, tympanometry, and wideband acoustic immittance (WAI). Audibility was characterized using the speech intelligibility index. Results: Of the participants successfully completing behavioral audiometry, hearing loss of a moderate or greater degree was observed in one or both ears for 46% of the participants at conventional audiometric test frequencies and 85% of the participants at frequencies above 8 kHz. Seven children met criteria for amplification based on the speech intelligibility index, but only two wore hearing aids. Abnormal middle ear function was found in approximately 50% of the participants for whom WAI or tympanometry were successfully measured. Conclusions: Consistent with prior research, high rates of hearing loss and middle ear dysfunction were observed. The high prevalence of hearing loss above 8 kHz suggests the importance of including extended high-frequency assessment in audiologic characterization of children with Down syndrome. Few children meeting audibility-based guidelines for amplification wore hearing aids, putting them at additional risk for speech/language and educational difficulties. Supplemental Material S1. Social Story, Visit One.   Supplemental Material S2. Social Story, Visit Two.   Porter, H., Buss, E., Merchant, G. R., & Leibold, L. J. (2022). Observational study to preliminarily characterize the audiological profile of children with Down syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00023</p

Computerized assessment of cognitive late effects among adolescent brain tumor survivors

BACKGROUND: Advantages of computerized assessment of neuropsychological functions include improved standardization and increased reliability of response time variables. ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is a computerized battery developed for monitoring recovery following mild brain injuries that assesses attention, memory and processing speed. Despite evidence that core areas of deficit among cancer survivors are those assessed by ImPACT, it has not previously been used with this population. PROCEDURE: Twenty four childhood brain tumor (BT) survivors treated with conformal radiation therapy (mean age= 15.7±1.6; mean age at irradiation= 9.8±2.5), twenty solid tumor (ST) survivors treated without CNS-directed therapy (mean age= 16.2±1.8) and twenty healthy siblings (mean age= 15.1± 1.6 years) were administered an age modified version of ImPACT. Additional computerized measures of working memory and recognition memory were administered. RESULTS: Univariate ANOVAs revealed group differences (p< .05) on measures of recognition memory, spatial working memory, processing speed and reaction time, with BT survivors performing significantly worse than ST survivors and siblings. Pearson correlation coefficients revealed significant associations between ImPACT memory tasks and computerized forced choice recognition tasks (rs= .30-.33, p< .05). Multiple surgical resections, hydrocephalus and CSF shunt placement most consistently predicted worse ImPACT performance using linear mixed models (p< .05). CONCLUSIONS: The ImPACT test battery demonstrated sensitivity to cognitive late effects experienced by some BT survivors with clinical predictors of performance consistent with the pediatric oncology literature. Correlations with measures of similar constructs provide evidence for convergent validity. Findings offer initial support for the utility of ImPACT for monitoring of cognitive late effects