Association Between Brain Substructure Dose and Cognitive Outcomes in Children With Medulloblastoma Treated on SJMB03: A Step Toward Substructure-Informed Planning.

Purpose To characterize the association between neurocognitive outcomes (memory and processing speed) and radiation (RT) dose to the hippocampus, corpus callosum (CC), and frontal white matter (WM) in children with medulloblastoma treated on a prospective study, SJMB03. Patients and methods Patients age 3-21 years with medulloblastoma were treated at a single institution on a phase III study. The craniospinal RT dose was 23.4 Gy for average-risk patients and 36-39.6 Gy for high-risk patients. The boost dose was 55.8 Gy to the tumor bed. Patients underwent cognitive testing at baseline and once yearly for 5 years. Performance on tests of memory (associative memory and working memory) and processing speed (composite processing speed and perceptual speed) was analyzed. Mixed-effects models were used to estimate longitudinal trends in neurocognitive outcomes. Reliable change index and logistic regression were used to define clinically meaningful neurocognitive decline and identify variables associated with decline. Results One hundred and twenty-four patients were eligible for inclusion, with a median neurocognitive follow-up of 5 years. Mean right and left hippocampal doses were significantly associated with decline in associative memory in patients without posterior fossa syndrome (all P Conclusion Increasing RT dose to the CC or frontal WM and hippocampus is associated with worse performance on tests of processing speed and associative memory, respectively. Brain substructure-informed RT planning may mitigate neurocognitive impairment.