Study Finds "Chemo Brain" May Start Before Treatment

A small study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium on Friday has concluded that the mental fuzziness and fatigue known as "chemo brain" can begin even before a patient has their first chemotherapy treatment. Researchers found that women with breast cancer who had to undergo chemotherapy "displayed alterations to neurocognitive responses" before being treated, most likely at least partially due to the "mental demand and stress of a breast cancer diagnosis."

The study's authors also noted that the neurocognitive issues that are commonly described as "chemo brain" can and do occur during chemotherapy treatment itself as well. Women who participated in the research described an inability to think clearly or carry out routine tasks, as well as noticeable fatigue.

Here is some of the key information to have emerged from the presentation of this study into "chemo brain."

* The study involved 28 women who were receiving adjuvant chemotherapy, 37 who were receiving radiotherapy treatment, and 32 women who were health and not receiving any treatment.

* According to a report by CancerNetwork, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and verbal working memory skill tests to study the neurocognitive processes of participants.

* The participants who were undergoing chemotherapy treatments had the worst neurocognitive test results, both before and after treatment. They also reported higher overall levels of fatigue.

* Previously, according to a report by HealthDay News, it was thought that the neurocognitive issues both reported and documented by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy were directly related to the treatment.

* The study's lead author, Bernadine Cimprich, associate professor emerita of the University of Michigan School of Nursing, told HealthDay News that her research doesn't disprove that "chemo brain" truly does exist, as it's "hard not to believe that chemotherapy could damage the brain," but simply that researchers "found evidence of the problems occurring in many women even before the therapy had begun."

* She further noted that what the study really found is "that there are other factors that may make women vulnerable to it and may compound the impact."

* Dr. Tim A. Ahles, Ph.D., of the Neurocognitive Research Laboratory at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, told CancerNetwork that "an accumulating body of results" suggests that many breast cancer patients "have cognitive deficits based on neuropsychological testing," and that there is "emerging evidence that their brain functioning is dysregulated prior to treatment."

* The Huffington Post noted that due to the fact that Cimprich's study was presented at a medical conference as an introductory unveiling and has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, "the results should be considered preliminary."

Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-chemo-brain-may-start-treatment-164000414.html

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