Development of Laterality and Bimanual Interference of Fine Motor Movements in Childhood and Adolescence.

Drawing and handwriting are fine motor skills acquired during childhood. We analyzed the development of laterality by comparing the performance of the dominant with the nondominant hand and the effect of bimanual interference in kinematic hand movement parameters (speed, automation, variability, and pressure). Healthy subjects (n = 187, 6-18 years) performed drawing tasks with both hands on a digitizing tablet followed by performance in the presence of an interfering task of the nondominant hand.

Mapping of long-term cognitive and motor deficits in pediatric cerebellar brain tumor survivors into a cerebellar white matter atlas.

Purpose: Diaschisis of cerebrocerebellar loops contributes to cognitive and motor deficits in pediatric cerebellar brain tumor survivors. We used a cerebellar white matter atlas and hypothesized that lesion symptom mapping may reveal the critical lesions of cerebellar tracts.

Methods: We examined 31 long-term survivors of pediatric posterior fossa tumors (13 pilocytic astrocytoma, 18 medulloblastoma).

Motor function in survivors of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with chemotherapy-only.

Background: Up to 43% of survivors of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may exhibit fine-motor problems. Information on manual dexterity in this cohort is still limited.

Objectives: We tested survivors of childhood ALL treated with chemotherapy-only for fine-motor function in terms of drawing and handwriting abilities using a Digitizing Tablet (DT) with three tasks for drawing and handwriting of varying complexity, for ataxia using the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS), and for tremor and hand-eye coordination using the Nine Hole Steadiness Tester (NHST).

Selective Brain Cooling after Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects of Three Different Cooling Methods-Case Report.

 In experimental models of neuronal damage, therapeutic hypothermia proved to be a powerful neuroprotective method. In clinical studies of traumatic brain injury (TBI), this very distinct effect was not reproducible. Several meta-analyses draw different conclusions about whether therapeutic hypothermia can improve outcome after TBI.

Cognitive and fine motor deficits in a pediatric sickle cell disease cohort of mixed ethnic origin.

Cerebrovascular disease is an important feature of pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) and may lead to cognitive and motor impairment. Our cross-sectional study examined the incidence and severity of these impairments in a pediatric cohort without clinical cerebrovascular events from Berlin of mixed ethnic origin. Thirty-two SCD patients (mean age 11.

DTI fiber tractography of cerebro-cerebellar pathways and clinical evaluation of ataxia in childhood posterior fossa tumor survivors.

Pediatric posterior fossa (PF) tumor survivors experience long-term motor deficits. Specific cerebrocerebellar connections may be involved in incidence and severity of motor dysfunction. We examined the relationship between long-term ataxia as well as fine motor function and alteration of differential cerebellar efferent and afferent pathways using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography.

Feasibility of the Combined Application of Navigated Probabilistic Fiber Tracking and Navigated Ultrasonography in Brain Tumor Surgery.

Background: Surgical resection of intra-axial tumors is a challenging procedure because of indistinct tumor margins, infiltration, and displacement of white matter tracts surrounding the lesion. Hence, gross total tumor resection without causing new neurologic deficits is demanding, especially in tumor sites adjoining eloquent structures. Feasibility of the combination of navigated probabilistic fiber tracking to identify eloquent fiber pathways and navigated ultrasonography to control brain shift was tested.

Executive function deficits in pediatric cerebellar tumor survivors.

Background And Aims: Besides motor function the cerebellum subserves frontal lobe functions. Thus, we investigated executive functions in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors.

Methods: We tested information processing, aspects of attention, planning and intelligence in 42 pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors (mean age 14.

Autologous bone graft versus PEKK cage for vertebral replacement after 1- or 2-level anterior median corpectomy.

OBJECT Anterior cervical corpectomy with fusion has become the most widely used procedure for the treatment of multilevel cervical stenosis. Although an autologous bone graft is the gold standard for vertebral replacement after corpectomy, industrial implants have become popular because they result in no donor-site morbidity. In this study, the authors compared clinical and radiological results of autologous iliac grafts versus those of bone-filled polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) cage implants.

Trauma- and distress-associated mental illness symptoms in close relatives of patients with severe traumatic brain injury and high-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Background: Close relatives (CR) of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and high-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) suffer extraordinary distress during the treatment: Distress may lead to persisting mental illness symptoms within the spectrum of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, and depression. The primary goal of this study was to determine the prevalence and severity of these symptoms in CR. The secondary goal was identification of associated factors.

Cerebral white matter fractional anisotropy and tract volume as measured by MR imaging are associated with impaired cognitive and motor function in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors.

Background: Disease and therapy cause brain damage and subsequent functional loss in pediatric patients with posterior fossa tumors. Treatment-related toxicity factors are resection in patients with pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) and, additionally, cranio-spinal irradiation together with chemotherapy in patients with medulloblastoma (MB). We tested whether damage to white matter (WM) as revealed by diffusion tensor MR imaging (DTI) correlated with specific cognitive and motor impairments in survivors of pediatric posterior fossa tumors.

Supratentorial neurometabolic alterations in pediatric survivors of posterior fossa tumors.

Purpose: Therapy and tumor-related effects such as hypoperfusion, internal hydrocephalus, chemotherapy, and irradiation lead to significant motor and cognitive sequelae in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors. A distinct proportion of those factors related to the resulting late effects is hitherto poorly understood. This study aimed at separating the effects of neurotoxic factors on central nervous system metabolism by using H-1 MR spectroscopy to quantify cerebral metabolite concentrations in these patients in comparison to those in age-matched healthy peers.

Differences in supratentorial damage of white matter in pediatric survivors of posterior fossa tumors with and without adjuvant treatment as detected by magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging.

Purpose: To elucidate morphologic correlates of brain dysfunction in pediatric survivors of posterior fossa tumors by using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine neuroaxonal integrity in white matter.

Patients And Methods: Seventeen medulloblastoma (MB) patients who had received surgery and adjuvant treatment, 13 pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) patients who had been treated only with surgery, and age-matched healthy control subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging on a 3-Tesla system. High-resolution conventional T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and DTI data sets were obtained.

Loss of fine motor function correlates with ataxia and decline of cognition in cerebellar tumor survivors.

Background: Motor and cognitive function losses resemble handicaps in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors. Several factors determine type and extent of impairment. We quantified loss of fine motor function and its association with ataxia and intelligence in patients with and without adjuvant treatment.

Influence of age and movement complexity on kinematic hand movement parameters in childhood and adolescence.

Development of fine motor functions, especially drawing and handwriting, are crucial for performance in school, autonomy in everyday life and the general human development. A variety of neurological and psychiatric conditions in childhood and adolescence stunt the normal development of fine motor skills. We sought to define the normal development of the kinematic parameters of fine motor movement and determine the influence of gender, laterality of handedness and extracurricular training on fine motor skills.