Impact of Pediatric Posterior Fossa Tumor Treatments on Working Memory Tracts Using Resting-State fMRI and Tractography.

Background And Purpose: Working memory, a primary cognitive domain, is often impaired in pediatric brain tumor survivors, affecting their attention and processing speed. This study investigated the long-term effects of treatments, including surgery, radiotherapy (RT), and chemotherapy (CT), on working memory tracts in children with posterior fossa tumors (PFTs) using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and diffusion MRI tractography.

Methods: This study included 16 medulloblastoma (MB) survivors treated with postoperative RT and CT, 14 pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) survivors treated with surgery alone, and 16 healthy controls from the Imaging Memory after Pediatric Cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults study (NCT04324450).