Dr. Juergen Konczak, professor of biomechanics, spoke to approximately 300 researchers from across the world at the annual meeting of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement in Venice, Italy, about recent findings on what factors determine how well children and adults recover from a cerebellar tumor or a stroke affecting the cerebellum. The underlying research studies have been part of an international collaboration with neurologists and neurosurgeons at the University Medical Center in Essen, Germany.
Results indicate that if the injury or the surgery affects several small nuclei in the deeper layers of the cerebellum, the prognosis for recovery at every age is very poor. If the nuclei are spared, a full recovery is possible given the right treatment.