Aphasia, neglect and extinction are no prominent clinical signs in children and adolescents with acute surgical cerebellar lesions.

The aim of the present study was to examine if clinically significant signs of aphasia, neglect or extinction, which have a well-known cerebral lateralization, are present in children and adolescents with acute focal lesions following tumour surgery in the cerebellum. Eight children and adolescents with cerebellar tumours were tested within days after tumour surgery. None of the children had received radiation or chemotherapy at the time of testing. Eleven age- and education-matched control subjects with major orthopedic surgery participated. High-resolution magnetic resonance images showed lesions of the right cerebellar hemisphere in three and of the left hemisphere in five children. Standard aphasia tests revealed no statistically significant difference comparing children with right- and left-sided lesions and controls. Mild signs of language disturbance, however, were present in single subjects with right-sided cerebellar lesions. Neglect and extinction tasks revealed minor abnormalities, which lacked consistent lateralization and were best explained by more unspecific attentional deficits and motor disorders in acute post-surgical stage. Acute right-sided cerebellar lesions can be followed by mild signs of language disturbances in single subjects. Clinically significant signs of neglect and extinction, however, are not observed in children and adolescents with acute surgical cerebellar lesions.