Adult survivors of retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that usually
develops in early childhood, have few cognitive or social problems
decades following their diagnosis and treatment. That’s the conclusion
of a study published early online in CANCER,
a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The findings
offer good news for patients, but it’s important to continue to monitor
for long-term effects as the brain changes throughout life.
While most children with retinoblastoma are successfully cured, little
is known about the long-term health of survivors. Given the very young
age at which retinoblastoma patients are treated (usually before 5 years
of age), and the intensive and multifaceted therapies they receive,
survivors are likely at risk for disease- and treatment-related late
effects.
To assess links between the disease or its treatment with cognitive and
social problems later in life, Tara Brinkman, PhD, of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and her colleagues studied 69
adult survivors who were an average of 33 years of age and had been
treated for retinoblastoma an average of 31 years earlier. After
participants completed cognitive evaluations and questionnaires, the
investigators found that survivors performed normally on most cognitive
and social measures. Whole brain radiation treatment was linked with
poorer performance on tasks of short-term verbal memory and long-term
verbal memory. Survivors diagnosed before 1 year of age performed
significantly better on measures of short-term verbal memory, long-term
verbal memory, verbal learning, and verbal reasoning abilities compared
with survivors diagnosed after 1 year of age. “This may be because the
area of the brain responsible for processing visual information becomes
more adept at processing verbal information following reduced visual
input early in life. This suggests the potential of the brain to adapt
and reorganize following very early insult,” said Dr. Brinkman.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to report on long-term
cognitive and social outcomes in adult survivors of retinoblastoma.
Importantly, we found that, as a whole, these survivors are doing quite
well,” Dr. Brinkman said. Additional research is needed to better
understand the mechanisms underlying potential brain changes and changes
in cognitive functioning in retinoblastoma survivors, she added.
Evelyn Martinez, 201-748-6358
Senior Publicist
sciencenewsroom@wiley.com