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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 94/6/4108    most recent 00611.2005v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (9) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Richter, S. Articles by Timmann, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Richter, S. Articles by Timmann, D.

Children and Adolescents With Chronic Cerebellar Lesions Show No Clinically Relevant Signs of Aphasia or Neglect

¹Departments of Neurology, ²Neurosurgery, and ³Neuroradiology, University of Duisburg-Essen; ⁴Entwicklungsgruppe Klinische Neuropsychologie–Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, Department of Neuropsychology, City Hospital Bogenhausen, Munich; and ⁵Center of Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

Submitted 13 June 2005; accepted in final form 15 July 2005

We studied language and visuospatial functions of 12 children and adolescents who had undergone surgery for cerebellar astrocytoma without subsequent radiation or chemotherapy and compared them with 27 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy control subjects. To study possible lateralization of the functions of the left and right cerebellar hemispheres, subjects performed several language tasks including a verb-generation task as well as standard neglect and extinction tests. Three-dimensional-MR images confirmed that lesions affected cerebellar hemispheres in all children but one who had a pure vermal lesion. The right cerebellar hemisphere was affected in six, the left hemisphere in four children, and both hemispheres in one child. There were no signs of aphasia in the children or adolescents with cerebellar lesions. Language abilities did not differ between cerebellar patients and control subjects except for small increases in reaction times in verb generation in patients with left-sided lesions. Visuospatial functions were also intact in cerebellar subjects except for minor group differences in neglect tasks. In sum, chronic focal cerebellar lesions acquired in childhood or youth do not result in persistent language disorders or clinically significant signs of spatial neglect or extinction.