Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Mar:104:19-22.
doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2019.11.007. Epub 2019 Nov 29.

Characterizing Posterior Fossa Syndrome: A Survey of Experts

Molly E Wickenhauser  1 , Raja B Khan  2 , Darcy Raches  1 , Jason M Ashford  1 , Giles W Robinson  3 , Kathryn M Russell  1 , Heather M Conklin  4
Affiliations

Characterizing Posterior Fossa Syndrome: A Survey of Experts

Molly E Wickenhauser et al. Pediatr Neurol. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Despite recent efforts, disagreement remains among frontline clinicians regarding the operational definition of a syndrome commonly referred to as posterior fossa syndrome or cerebellar mutism syndrome.

Methods: We surveyed experts in the clinical care of children with posterior fossa tumors to identify trends and discrepancies in diagnosing posterior fossa syndrome.

Results: All surveyed professionals conceptualized posterior fossa syndrome as a spectrum diagnosis. The majority agreed that mutism is the most important symptom for diagnosis. However, results highlighted ongoing discrepancies related to important features of posterior fossa syndrome.

Conclusions: Greater posterior fossa syndrome conceptual alignment among providers is needed to formulate specific diagnostic criteria that would further research and clinical care. The authors propose preliminary diagnostic criteria for posterior fossa syndrome that require refinement through careful clinical characterization and targeted empirical investigation.

Keywords: Cerebellar mutism syndrome; Diagnostic criteria; Medulloblastoma; Pediatric brain tumor; Posterior fossa syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Rank order of importance (N = 31)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Northcott PA, Jones DW, Kool M, et al. Medulloblastomics: the end of the beginning. Nat Rev Cancer. 2012;12(12):818–834. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gajjar A, Chintagumpala M, Ashley D, et al. Risk-adapted craniospinal radiotherapy followed by high-dose chemotherapy and stem-cell rescue in children with newly diagnosed medulloblastoma (St Jude Medulloblastoma-96): Long-term results from a prospective, multicentre trial. Lancet Oncol. 2006;7(10):813–820. - PubMed
    1. De Smet HJ, Baillieux H, Catsman-Berrevoets C, De Deyn PP, Mariën P, Paquier PF. Postoperative motor speech production in children with the syndrome of ‘cerebellar’ mutism and subsequent dysarthria: A critical review of the literature. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2007;11(4):193–207. - PubMed
    1. Korah MP, Esiashvili N, Mazewski CM, et al. Incidence, risks, and sequelae of posterior fossa syndrome in pediatric medulloblastoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;77(1):106–112. - PubMed
    1. Gudrunardottir T, Morgan AT, Lux AL, et al. Consensus paper on post-operative pediatric cerebellar mutism syndrome: the Iceland Delphi results. Childs Nerv Syst. 2016;32(7):1195–1203. - PubMed

Publication types