Posterior fossa syndrome—a narrative review

Posterior fossa syndrome (PFS) is a collection of neurological symptoms that occurs following surgical resection of a posterior fossa tumour. It is seen almost exclusively in children. A number of early publications described the effects of posterior fossa surgery on speech. Hirsch et al. were the first to report the phenomenon of PFS as a group of neuropsychological complications, including speech disturbance, in children who underwent surgical treatment for medulloblastoma between 1964 and 1972 (1). However, it was Rekate et al. who published the first work describing cerebellar mutism (CM) as a clinical entity, occurring as a consequence of bilateral cerebellar injury (2). They described six children undergoing posterior fossa surgery who sustained a similar postoperative course. Many reports of similar cases followed this publication. The collection of neurological symptoms is now well established as a syndrome; its pathogenesis, however, is still poorly understood