Presurgical assessment of cognitive function in pediatric brain tumor patients: feasibility and initial findings

Background Establishing a presurgical baseline of neurocognitive functioning for pediatric brain tumor patients is a high priority to identify level of functioning prior to medical interventions. However, few studies have obtained adequate samples of presurgery assessments. Methods This study examines the feasibility of completing tests to assess pre-surgical neurocognitive functioning in 59 identified pediatric brain tumor patients. Results Eighty-five percent of patients (n = 50) were referred by the neurosurgery team before surgery and 83% of patients (n = 49) enrolled in the study. A full battery, including both performance-based and parent-report measures of neurocognitive function, was completed for 54% (n = 32) of patients. Rates of completion for either parent-report or performance-based measures were 68% (n = 40) and 69% (n = 41), respectively. While the performance-based assessment fell within the average range (M = 95.4, SD = 14.7, 95% CI, 90.7–100.0), 32% of participants had scores one or more standard deviations below the mean, or twice the expected rate. Parent-reports indicated higher level of concern than the general population (M = 55.4, SD = 11.3, 95% CI, 51.8–59.0) and found that 35% fell one or more standard deviations above the mean, or more than twice the expected rate. Conclusions Results suggest it is feasible to conduct pre-surgical assessments with a portion of pediatric brain tumor patients upon diagnosis and these results compare favorably with prior research. However, nearly half of identified patients did not receive a full test battery. Identifying barriers to enrollment and participation in research are discussed as well as recommendations for future research.