The word “cerebellum” means “little brain”, despite the fact that it holds more than half the brain’s neurons. It is essential for coordinating movements and balance, helping you perform everyday tasks smoothly, like walking down a crowded street, or playing sports. It is also crucial for the learning process that allows you to associate sensory cues with specific actions.

A strategy called Watch & Wait (W&W) has increasingly been used, including at the Champalimaud Foundation, to avoid surgery and its associated complications, in a selected group of patients  whose tumours become undetectable after chemoradiotherapy. In terms of the local tumour control, it has been shown to be as safe to operate them later – if ever their tumour gives any sign of coming back – as to operate them immediately after chemoradiotherapy treatment.