Cerebellar mutism syndrome

In order to promote the diagnosis, prevention and intervention of CMS, Fatema Malbari of the Department of Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience, Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, provided a comprehensive overview of the etiology, diagnosis, risk factors, clinical manifestations and clinical management of CMS, and identified important multidisciplinary research priorities, the results of which were published online

——Excerpt from the article chapter

【Ref: Malbari F, et al.

Research background

cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS), also known as posterior fossa syndrome, occurs in some patients after posterior fossa tumor resection and is most commonly seen in children

Clinical diagnosis and management: CMS usually occurs 0 to 7 days postoperatively with brief silence

Neuropsychiatric prognosis: brain tumor surgery is an independent risk factor

Studies have shown that the degree of cognitive impairment observed in CMS survivors is associated
with the acute effects of tumors and surgery.

Patients with a history of CMS tend to have greater neurocognitive deficits than those without a history of CMS; Overall intelligence, learning, and adaptive function all show greater deficiencies
.

CMS survivors perform poorly or regressively in academic performance; Especially when it comes to reading, math and writing/spelling, the impact on reading ability may be greater
.

These deficiencies may limit the patient's adaptive skills or independent participation in family and community activities
.

CMS has also been associated with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, which are more likely to exhibit compulsive behavior, withdrawal behavior, difficulties
dealing with social issues, etc.

Advancing CMS Research: Establishing common CMS terminology and diagnostic criteria is an important step in
advancing CMS research.

A good understanding of the causes of CMS helps to implement rigorous, standardized diagnostic and evaluation procedures through multicenter investigations
.

Given the rarity of posterior fossa tumors in children, large multicenter collaborative or collaborative group studies, such as the Society of Posterior Fossa Oncology, are recommended to obtain a sufficiently large sample of CMS patients to determine important clinical predictors and health prognosis
.

Conclusion of the study

The authors argue that treatment of CMS remains challenging with limited current knowledge of CMS causes, risk factors, and management
.

Patients with CMS often experience persistent neurological symptoms and significant long-term deficits in neurocognitive function, negatively impacting the quality of life of patients and impeding the daily lives
of patients and their families.

Therefore, it is necessary to make continuous efforts to understand the causes of CMS, standardize diagnostic criteria, determine important clinical predictors and health prognosis, and develop treatment measures
.