A pilot study of an online cognitive rehabilitation program for executive function skills in children with cancer-related brain injury

Primary objectives: Children with a history of cancer are at increased risk for cognitive impairments, particularly in executive and memory domains. Traditional, in-person cognitive rehabilitation strategies may be unavailable and/or impractical for many of these children given difficulties related to resources and health status. The feasibility and efficacy of implementing a computerized, home-based cognitive rehabilitation curriculum designed to improve executive function skills was examined in these children. Methods: A one-arm open trial pilot study of an original executive function cognitive rehabilitation curriculum was conducted with 23 paediatric cancer survivors aged 7-19. Results: Compliance with the cognitive rehabilitation program was 83%, similar to that of many traditional programs. Following the cognitive intervention, participants showed significantly increased processing speed, cognitive flexibility, verbal and visual declarative memory scores as well as significantly increased pre-frontal cortex activation compared to baseline. Conclusions: These results suggest that a program of computerized cognitive exercises can be successfully implemented at home in young children with cancer. These exercises may be effective for improving executive and memory skills in this group, with concurrent changes in neurobiologic status.