Posterior fossa tumour (PFT) surgery carries a risk of mutism or severely reduced
speech. As for higher-cognitive language functions, word-finding difficulties have
been reported, but no study has compared pre- and postoperative word-finding speeds
to identify impairment caused by surgery. The current study investigated changes in
word-finding ability associated with PFT surgery and examined factors affecting postoperative
ability.We included 184 children aged 5:0-17:9 years undergoing PFT surgery and assessed
word-finding ability before and after surgery using a speeded picture-naming test.
We compared postoperative word-finding performance with both preoperative performance
and age-specific norms and examined factors affecting word-finding ability.We found
no significant difference between pre- and postoperative performance, reflecting that
some children exhibited better word-finding ability after surgery, others poorer.
After surgery, 95% of the children performed two standard deviations above (slower
than) age-specific norms. Tumour location in the fourth ventricle negatively affected
postoperative word-finding ability (B = -4.09, p < 0.05).For some children, PFT surgery
leads to postoperative word-finding difficulties, emphasizing the importance of postoperative
language assessments and interventions. Fourth-ventricle tumour location emerged as
a risk factor for poorer postoperative word-finding ability, likely reflecting surgical
damage to the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway (DTCP).
