Cerebellar Tumors of Childhood - Impact on Cognition and Functional Connectivity

Aim: To investigate the effect of cerebellar tumor surgery on the resting state functional connectivity level in higher order cognition networks known to interact with the cerebellum. Furthermore, to correlate the connectivity level of these networks with the neuropsychological performance and functional outcome of the patients.

The investigator's hypothesis is that the functional connectivity of various cognition networks in the cerebrum as assessed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging can be impaired after cerebellar tumor surgery and can be correlated with the neuropsychological performance. The effect of surgery on the cognition networks and the neuropsychological performance is dependent on the tumor location within the cerebellum. Such a correlation seems feasible as functional connectivity analysis could be correlated with the neuropsychological impairment in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, investigators were able to depict the maturation of the functional connectivity networks in parallel to the neurocognitive development in childhood