Participants and Procedures
This follow-up cross-sectional study consisted of 187 patients treated
with PRT at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Francis H. Burr
Proton Center for a primary brain tumor. Patients were ≤ 20 years at
initiation of PRT (baseline), had no prior diagnosis of brain or CNS
tumor, and had follow-up assessment conducted by MGH that included
measures of psychosocial and executive functioning at least one year
after completion of PRT.
Patients were treated with PRT, surgery, and chemotherapy appropriate
for the diagnosis and according to the current standard of care.
Surgical resection, when performed, was prior to PRT. Chemotherapy as
part of treatment was always completed before follow-up testing. All
radiation was delivered with standard fraction sizes of 1.8 Gy (RBE) per
fraction (1.5 Gy per fraction for germinomas) in accordance with the
national standard set by Children’s Oncology Group protocols for target
coverage. MGH and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Institutional Review
Board approvals were obtained for this study.