Executive functioning in 6 year old children exposed to chemotherapy in utero

Long-Term Neurodevelopmental Outcome of Children after in Utero Exposure to Chemotherapy

“…Interestingly, Amant et al reported a disharmonic IQ profile in chemotherapy-exposed children older than 6 years of age, while identifying a significant difference between verbal and performance IQ scores [13]. Additionally, the studies by both Vandenbroucke et al and Van Gerwen et al also highlighted significantly lower verbal IQ score in children exposed to maternal chemotherapy, especially in those whose mothers died after delivery [27][28][29]. Nevertheless, the majority of the studies proved that intelligence test results were within normal ranges and in accordance with children's social and economic background [15,16,[20][21][22]24].…”

“…A summary of the studies describing the type of maternal cancer and the chemotherapy schemes administered during pregnancy while evaluating the neurodevelopmental outcome of children in utero exposed to chemotherapy is demonstrated in Tables 1 and 2. [16] Acute leukemia (7) Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (18) Hodgkin's lymphoma (14 Acute leukemia (14) Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (25) Hodgkin's lymphoma (19) COPA (6 Breast cancer (26) Ovarian cancer (4) Hodgkin's lymphoma (4) Acute leukemia (1) [27] and Van Gerwen et al, 2020 [28] Breast cancer (69) Hematological malignancy (20) Cervical cancer 10Ovarian cancer (10) Brain cancer (4) Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cavity cancer 4Nasopharyngeal cancer (1) Gastric cancer 2Colon cancer 1Melanoma 2 Breast cancer and hematological cancer (e.g., acute leukemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) were the most frequently diagnosed malignancies during gestation [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][25][26][27][28][29]. Additionally, several cases of cervical, ovarian, brain and gastric cancer were also reported [13,14,[20][21][22]24,[26][27][28][29...…”

“…Additionally, several cases of cervical, ovarian, brain and gastric cancer were also reported [13,14,[20][21][22]24,[26][27][28][29]. Some studies focused on a single type of pregnancy-related cancer analyzing its treatment along with the maternal and the fetal outcomes [15][16][17][18][23][24][25], whereas other studies integrated data regarding multiple cancer types, as shown in Table 1 [13,14,[20][21][22][26][27][28][29]. Furthermore, various chemotherapy regimens were administered during the course of pregnancy, depending on the type of maternal cancer diagnosed; a combination of anthracycline-based regimens was most commonly used [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28].…”

“…Cyclophosphamide, 5-fluorouracil, taxanes, and platinum derivatives were also regularly administered [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. In the majority of the studies included in the review, the antineoplastic agents were administered in the second and third trimester of pregnancy [13,14,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]; however, in all studies mainly investigating hematological malignancies, chemotherapy was administered in the first trimester as well [15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Depending on the testing age, Wechsler Intelligence Scales were used in multiple versions; Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Individual Achievement Test [13,15,16,[20][21][22]24,[27][28][29]. Interestingly, Amant et al reported a disharmonic IQ profile in chemotherapy-exposed children older than 6 years of age, while identifying a significant difference between verbal and performance IQ scores [13].…”