QUANTITATIVE EEG IN LONG-TERM SURVIVORS OF ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

Conventional and quantitative aspects of electroencephalographic recor dings obtained during a follow-up surveillance study in long-term surv ivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood were investigated w ith respect to differences in central nervous system prophylaxis given during antileukemic therapy and compared with data derived from healt hy controls. Central nervous system prophylaxis consisted either of cr anial irradiation (18 Gray, group A, n = 8) or intermediate high-dose methotrexate (2000 mg/m(2); group B, n = 5), each combined with intrat hecal methotrexate. Conventional electroencephalographic analysis reve aled comparable results in all three study groups. However, quantitati ve electroencephalography showed significantly increased absolute powe r scores for all frequency bands in both long-term survivor groups. Re lative power estimates revealed a significant increase in delta/tau ac tivities in both prophylaxis groups compared to healthy controls, whic h were countered by decreased percentage power scores in the alpha-ran ge. Quantitative electroencephalographic comparisons between both cent ral nervous system prophylaxis groups revealed only small differences in quantity, not quality, of the observed power disturbances with slig htly higher deviations in irradiated long-term survivors than in nonir radiated ones, Topographical distributions of spectral band power were comparable between an three study groups without evidence for therapy -related topographical differences. (C) 1996 by Elsevier Science Inc.