Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Observational
Official Title: Long-Term Impact of Posterior Fossa Mutism on Quality of Life
Brief Summary: Posterior fossa mutism (PFM) occurs in up to 30% of patients after resection of a posterior fossa tumor, most commonly a medulloblastoma. PFM is characterized by delayed onset of mutism 1-6 days after surgery that can spontaneously improve on average from 7-8 weeks later. Few patients recover normal speech. Most of their speech continues to be marked by dysarthria, dysfluency and slowed rate. Researchers have not identified the pathophysiologic mechanism for PFM nor have they found a cure. Despite the improvements in speech, patients with PFM have shown multiple areas of neurocognitive deficits 12 months after diagnosis. Few studies have looked at long term outcomes of patients affected by PFM. We propose to survey patients who developed PFM after resection of a medulloblastoma to determine long term effects of PFM on patient's quality of life.