The Neuro-protective Effects of Exercise in Children With Brain Tumors

The objectives of our proposed study are to (a) evaluate the feasibility of conducting a structured exercise program in children treated with cranial radiation for brain tumors, (b) test whether exercise results in improved thinking skills and emotional function, and (c) examine potential mechanisms of improved outcome, particularly recovery of white matter and grey matter.

Sex

All

Minimum age

7 Years

Maximum age

17 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

* Survivors will be included if they are between 7 and 17 years of age.
* Survivors will be included if they either declare English as their native language or have had at least two years of schooling in English at the time of their first assessment.
* Survivors must have been diagnosed with a hemispheric or posterior fossa tumor and been treated with cranial spinal radiation.
* Survivors no more than 10 years may have elapsed between diagnosis and time of study.
* Survivors with a shunt will be included in the study, but will need to be identified prior to study on-set to discuss any specific considerations for imaging and physical activity.

Exclusion Criteria:

* are younger than 7 years (the delivery of an intervention program to young children carries challenges that make it difficult to include in an initial feasibility grant) or older than 17 years
* require sedation for MRI imaging
* is claustrophobic
* have severe neurological/motor dysfunction that would preclude safe participation in an exercise program.

• RESULTSzulc-Lerch KU, Timmons BW, Bouffet E, Laughlin S, de Medeiros CB, Skocic J, Lerch JP, Mabbott DJ. Repairing the brain with physical exercise: Cortical thickness and brain volume increases in long-term pediatric brain tumor survivors in response to a structured exercise intervention. Neuroimage Clin. 2018 Mar 5;18:972-985. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.02.021. eCollection 2018. PMID 29876282
• RESULTPiscione PJ, Bouffet E, Timmons B, Courneya KS, Tetzlaff D, Schneiderman JE, de Medeiros CB, Bartels U, Mabbott DJ. Exercise training improves physical function and fitness in long-term paediatric brain tumour survivors treated with cranial irradiation. Eur J Cancer. 2017 Jul;80:63-72. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2017.04.020. Epub 2017 May 25. PMID 28551430
• RESULTRiggs L, Piscione J, Laughlin S, Cunningham T, Timmons BW, Courneya KS, Bartels U, Skocic J, de Medeiros C, Liu F, Persadie N, Scheinemann K, Scantlebury N, Szulc KU, Bouffet E, Mabbott DJ. Exercise training for neural recovery in a restricted sample of pediatric brain tumor survivors: a controlled clinical trial with crossover of training versus no training. Neuro Oncol. 2017 Mar 1;19(3):440-450. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/now177. PMID 27555603
• RESULTCox E, Bells S, Timmons BW, Laughlin S, Bouffet E, de Medeiros C, Beera K, Harasym D, Mabbott DJ. A controlled clinical crossover trial of exercise training to improve cognition and neural communication in pediatric brain tumor survivors. Clin Neurophysiol. 2020 Jul;131(7):1533-1547. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2020.03.027. Epub 2020 Apr 13. PMID 32403066
• DERIVEDBaudou E, Ryan JL, Cox E, Nham L, Johnston K, Bouffet E, Bartels U, Timmons B, de Medeiros C, Mabbott DJ. Optimizing an exercise training program in pediatric brain tumour survivors: Does timing postradiotherapy matter? Neurooncol Pract. 2023 Sep 9;11(1):69-81. doi: 10.1093/nop/npad055. eCollection 2024 Feb. PMID 38222057