A 3-year follow-up of the intellectual and academic functioning of children receiving central nervous system prophylactic chemotherapy for leukemia.

This prospective study compared the intellectual and academic functioning of two groups of children treated for cancer over the 3 years after their diagnosis. One group consisted of children who received central nervous system (CNS) prophylactic chemotherapy, and the other group consisted of children with cancer who did not receive CNS chemotherapy. The results suggest that the children who received CNS chemotherapy experienced more adverse effects from their treatment in the area of academic functioning than the children who did not receive CNS chemotherapy. Although there were no differences in the academic functioning of the two groups of children immediately after their diagnosis, 3 years postdiagnosis, the CNS-treated children scored more poorly on academic tests of reading, spelling, and arithmetic than the non-CNS-treated children. The results suggest that CNS chemotherapy prophylaxis may impede academic achievement.