Predicting dysphagia in children undergoing surgery for posterior fossa tumors

Prevalence of dysphagia following posterior fossa tumor resection: a systematic review and meta‑analysis

“…Tumors in the brainstem may compromise the lower cranial nerves, affecting pharyngeal function and swallowing ability [7]. Goethe and colleague reported that patients who developed dysphagia post-operatively were more likely to have brainstem involvement [4]. PFTs resection in brainstem is more challenging, leading to a risk for injury to key structures and has been associated with postoperative dysphagia.…”

“…Of the 22 articles, 10 were published in Chinese and 12 in English. Seven studies [4,7,8,10,11,22,23] used instrumental and objective assessments, including video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). Among the remaining 15 studies, 8 [5,21,[24][25][26][27][28][29] did not specify the assessment method, whereas the remaining 7 [1,[30][31][32][33][34][35] used screening tools, such as the water swallowing test (WST), repetitive saliva swallowing test (RSST), standardized swallowing assessment (SSA), clinical assessment of paediatric neurogenic dysphagia (CAPND), the dysphagia subscale of the Chinese scale of clinical neurologic deficit of stroke patients, and the dysphagia subscale of cerebellar mutism syndrome scale to detect dysphagia.…”

“…The posterior fossa is situated below the cerebellar tentorium and above the foramen magnum, which encompasses the fourth ventricle and cerebellum [1]. Although posterior fossa tumors (PFTs) are less commonly observed in adults [2], they are the most common solid tumors in the pediatric population, occurring at an incidence rate of 2-3.5 per 100,000 individuals [3,4]. Microsurgery remains the preferred treatment for PFTs, particularly in cases involving malignancy, facial nerve dysfunction, hearing deterioration, and obstructive hydrocephalus [5].…”