Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for children with brain tumors: A systematic review

Background: There is an increasing need to assess the evidence of a multidisciplinary approach for both short-term and long-term management of neurological sequelae arising from the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors in childhood. Methods: We performed a systematic review of the evidence base for multidisciplinary paediatric brain tumor rehabilitation using seven databases. PRISMA guidelines were adhered to and the review was registered with the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews (registration number CRD42014015070). Results: The literature search identified 3,061 results. Three service evaluations were included. The review identified limited evidence in favor of multidisciplinary rehabilitation for children with brain tumors. Due to the lack of controlled trial data and heterogeneity of the interventions and outcome measures, no meta-analysis could be performed. Conclusions: Studies utilising a coordinated multi-centre approach with standardized outcome measures are recommended in order to enable robust assessment of the efficacy of multidisciplinary rehabilitation services.