Late Effects of the Central Nervous System Acute lymphoblastic
leukemia (ALL) Stem cell transplantation Post-traumatic stress
after childhood cancer Psychosocial outcomes among adolescent
cancer survivors Neurocognitive late effects most commonly
follow treatment of malignancies that require central nervous
system (CNS)-directed therapies, such as cranial radiation,
systemic therapy with high-dose methotrexate or cytarabine, or
with intrathecal chemotherapy. Children with brain tumors or
acute lymphoblastic leukemia are most likely to be affected.
Risk factors for the development of neurocognitive side effects
are female gender, young age at the time of treatment, higher
radiation dose, and treatment with both cranial radiation and
chemotherapy (systemic or intrathecal).[1-4]Brain tumors
Survival rates have increased over recent decades for children
with brain tumors; however, long-term cognitive effects due to
their illness and associated treatments are emerging. In
childhood and adolescent brain tumor survi