Motor performance of children during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Background. Daily life motor skills of children with acute lymphoblastic le ukemia (ALL) were studied during treatment using the Movement Assessment Ba ttery for Children (Movement ABC). In addition, the possible relation with vincristine treatment was investigated. Procedure. Seventeen children treat ed for ALL, aged 4-12 years, were compared to an age- and sex-matched contr ol group. Results. The leukemia group performed more poorly than the contro l group on both fine and gross motor skills. In looking at the number of ch ildren with ALL who scored in the clinical range of the different subtests, problems in balance skills were found to be most pronounced at the end of induction therapy. Remarkably, half a year after reinduction therapy, probl ems with balance had decreased, whereas the number of children with fine mo tor problems had increased. Conclusions. A relation between the gross motor problems and vincristine neurotoxicity seems plausible based on a descript ive analysis of the data, but this was not supported statistically, Med. Pe diatr. Oncol. 33:545-550, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.