Impact of a pediatric posterior fossa tumor and its treatments on motor procedural learning

Eloïse Baudou, Jérémy Danna, Jessica Tallet, Lisa Pollidoro, Fatima Tensaouti, Anne Isabelle Bertozzi, Jérémie Pariente, Nicolas Courbieres, Christelle Dufour, Jacques Grill, Yves Chaix, Anne Laprie

    Résultats de recherche: Contribution à un journalArticleRevue par des pairs

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Résumé

    Introduction: Posterior fossa tumor (PFT) survivors have difficulty learning new skills. Procedural memory is a skill learning system that allows, through training, the automatization of procedures and progressive improvement of performance. It underlies most of the motor procedures in everyday life that we perform automatically, such as riding a bike or writing. Motor procedural memory is divided into two components: motor sequence learning involving mainly cortico-striatal networks, and motor adaptation involving mainly cortico-cerebellar networks. The aim of this work was to explore the impact of a tumor and its treatment during childhood on procedural learning hypothesizing that sequence learning would be impaired in PFT survivors who have been treated with radiotherapy, whereas motor adaptation would be impaired in all PFT survivors. Method: 22 irradiated survivors of PFT, 17 non-irradiated survivors and 21 healthy controls from the IMPALA study (NCT04324450) performed a motor sequence learning task and a motor adaptation task. Doses received by striatal and cerebellar structures were reported from the initial dosimetry plans. Results: Sequence learning was preserved in both tumor groups, but at the individual level 7/22 irradiated, and 4/17 non-irradiated participants failed to learn the motor sequence. Motor adaptation was impaired in both tumor groups, predominantly in the irradiated group. Conclusion: This study sheds new light on the long-term impact of PFT treatments in childhood on a rarely-studied part of memory, which is perceptual-motor procedural learning. Our results suggest that the cerebellum and striatum could be considered as organs at risk with regard to procedural learning.

    langue originaleAnglais
    Pages (de - à)37-45
    Nombre de pages9
    journalEuropean Journal of Paediatric Neurology
    Volume44
    Les DOIs
    étatPublié - 1 mai 2023

    Contient cette citation