Everyday Cognitive Function After Craniopharyngioma in Childhood

Waber, Deborah P.; Pomeroy, Scott L.; Chiverton, Abigail M.; Kieran, Mark W.; Scott, R. Michael; Goumnerova, Liliana C.; Rivkin, Michael J.

doi:10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2005.06.002

« Previous Next »Pediatric Neurology
Volume 34, Issue 1 , Pages 13-19, January 2006

Everyday Cognitive Function After Craniopharyngioma in Childhood

Deborah P. Waber, PhD
- Division of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Communications should be addressed to: Dr. Waber; Department of Psychiatry; Children’s Hospital Boston; 300 Longwood Avenue; Boston, MA 02115
Scott L. Pomeroy, MD, PhD
- Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Abigail M. Chiverton, BA
- Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
Mark W. Kieran, MD
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
R. Michael Scott, MD
- Department of Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School
Liliana C. Goumnerova, MD
- Department of Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School
Michael J. Rivkin, MD
- Division of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School

Received 2 February 2005; accepted 12 May 2005.

Despite clinical impressions that cognitive complaints are prominent in patients with a history of craniopharyngioma, formal neuropsychologic documentation is inconsistent. This study assessed everyday cognitive complaints and neuropsychologic test performance to evaluate the prevalence of problems and the relationship of these domains to one another in patients treated for craniopharyngioma in childhood or adolescence. Ten patients treated for craniopharyngioma completed measures of everyday cognitive function (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test) and a battery of standard neuropsychologic tests. The prevalence of problems was ascertained for each measure. Most patients demonstrated significant deficits in everyday memory (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, 9/10 patients; Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test, 7/10 patients). Scores were within normal limits, however, for intelligence quotient, achievement, attention, verbal memory, and spatial working memory. Processing speed was slow (5/10 patients). Spatial working memory predicted Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (P < 0.07), as did somatic symptoms from the Beck Depression Inventory (P < 0.01), but these associations appeared independent. Adolescents and young adults with treated craniopharyngioma experience deficits in everyday cognitive functions, many involving memory, that are not easily detected by standard neuropsychologic testing. The extent of self-rated cognitive problems is related to spatial working memory and somatic concerns.