[Long and medium-term neuropsychological sequelae of bone marrow transplantation in pediatric patients with hematological disease].
BACKGROUND
Few studies exist on the neuropsychological sequelae of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in pediatric patients. Published results show considerable discrepancies although studies of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia undergoing high doses of cranial radiotherapy report short- and long-term loss of cognitive ability.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effects of BMT and the effect of anxiety on the pre-BMT assessment in a group of children with severe hematological disease treated in our center.


METHODS
We performed a descriptive, prospective, longitudinal study of 54 children, aged 4-15 years, who were treated between 1987 and 1995. Twenty-two children were evaluated before and after BMT by means of the Weschler Intelligence Scale. To control for the effect of anxiety on the pre-BMT scores, the patients were divided into two groups according to the scores obtained in this test (group 1: IQ score 100; group 1: IQ100).


RESULTS
Comparison of pre- and post-BMT scores for both groups revealed no significant differences. However, comparison of the results between groups revealed that group I scored lower in the post-BMT test than in the pre-BMT test while group I scored higher in the post-BMT test than in the pre-BMT test.


CONCLUSIONS
Although comparison between the pre- and post-BMT results obtained from the whole sample showed no differences that indicated post-treatment sequelae, treatment-induced anxiety may have influenced the pre-BMT score.
Daniel Llach
M
M
Servicio de Pediatría. Servicio de Epidemiología Clínica y Salud Pública. Hospital de Sant Pau. Barcelona, Spain. mdaniel@hsp.santpau.es
Pérez Campdepadrós
M
M
Baza Ceballos
N
N
Igual Brull
L
L
Badell Serra
I
I
Puig Reichach
T
T
Cubells Rieró
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014888:Wechsler Scales