Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: LAURA CAROLINA LEMOS ARAGÃO

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LAURA CAROLINA LEMOS ARAGÃO
DATE: 28/10/2021
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Videoconferência
TITLE:

Influence of social-cultural and clinical factors on neurocognitive profile of children and adolescentes survivors of posterior fossa tumors

KEY WORDS:

posterior fossa tumors; medulloblastoma; neuropsychology; socioeconomic status; parental education.

PAGES: 86
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUMMARY:

Central Nervous System tumors are the most common solid neoplasm on childhood and the cerebellum is the region with the highest incidence. Medulloblastomas and pilocytic astrocytomas are most frequent cases. As treatment, most astrocytomas require neurosurgery only, while medulloblastomas are treated with neurosurgery, systemic chemotherapy and cranio-spinal radiotherapy. Studies show the concomitance between the achievement of survival and the presence of sequelae on development and learning in survivors, especially associated with the neurotoxicity of antineoplastic chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which cause severe damage on integrity of cortical and subcortical white matter (WM). However, in addition to damage on WM, other factors are added to this complex mosaic, such as social and cultural aspects, which, independently or overlapping, dialectically constitute the development processes. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the impact of clinical and sociocultural variables on the neurocognitive profile of children and adolescents survivors of Posterior Fossa Tumors (PFT). This research was subdivided into three studies: 1) The influence of clinical and sociocultural aspects on the cognitive performance in pediatric survivors of PFT; 2) Investigation of memory in pediatric survivors of PFT; 3) Investigation of attention and processing speed in pediatric survivors of PFT, which remains in construction. 37 subjects aged 6-16 integrated clinical group, and 25 subjects formed a healthy control group matched 1:1 with the participants of studies 2 and 3 according to sex, age, type of school and socioeconomic level.  A neurocognitive assessment was performed with the participants and results were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical tools and clinic-qualitative analysis. In the first study, it was found that the clinical variables, such as treatment modality led to significant differences on nonverbal domains - processing speed, visuospatiality, fluid intelligence - while the sociocultural variable, such as education maternal, led to significant impacts on verbal dimensions of the participants' cognitive functioning. In the second study, it was found that the treatment modalities affect the memory processes in children and adolescents diagnosed with pilocytic astrocytoma and meduloblastoma. Participants submitted only to neurosurgery showed losses especially in the phonological working memory, but significantly broader and more prominent mnemic impacts are related to children that undergone quimiotherapy and radiotherapy. Therefore, it’s necessary to emphasize the complexity associated to the manifestation of the different neurocognitive impairments in this population and expand the analysis of which factors cross child development, in order to support effective and contextualized intervention strategies.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - EDIANA ROSSELLY DE OLIVEIRA GOMES - UFRN
Presidente - 1321136 - IZABEL AUGUSTA HAZIN PIRES
Externo à Instituição - RODRIGO DA SILVA MAIA - UFC