Chemo Brain: cognitive effects of chemotherapy

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Good NYT arti­cle today on how Chemother­a­py Fog Is No Longer Ignored as Illu­sion. Quotes:

  • “Vir­tu­al­ly all can­cer sur­vivors who have had tox­ic treat­ments like chemother­a­py expe­ri­ence short-term mem­o­ry loss and dif­fi­cul­ty con­cen­trat­ing dur­ing and short­ly after­ward, experts say. But a vast major­i­ty improve. About 15 per­cent, or rough­ly 360,000 of the nation’s 2.4 mil­lion female breast can­cer sur­vivors, the group that has dom­i­nat­ed research on cog­ni­tive side effects, remain dis­tract­ed years lat­er, accord­ing to some experts. And nobody knows what dis­tin­guish­es this 15 percent.”
  • “The cen­tral puz­zle of chemo brain is that many of the symp­toms can occur for rea­sons oth­er than chemotherapy.”
  • “Abrupt menopause, which often fol­lows treat­ment, also leaves many women fuzzy-head­ed in a more extreme way than nat­ur­al menopause, which unfolds slow­ly. Those cog­ni­tive issues are also fea­tures of depres­sion and anx­i­ety, which often accom­pa­ny a can­cer diag­no­sis. Sim­i­lar effects are also caused by med­ica­tions for nau­sea and pain.”

There are at least a cou­ple cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science teams in the US and Israel devel­op­ing com­put­er-based cog­ni­tive train­ing pro­grams that can be help­ful for this pop­u­la­tion. We will keep you informed as we see good results and tools.

Pre­vi­ous stories:

ACS: Researchers Ver­i­fy Chemo Brain in Can­cer Survivors

  • The study results showed that those treat­ed with chemother­a­py scored sig­nif­i­cant­ly low­er on stan­dard­ized tests mea­sur­ing men­tal and psy­cho­log­i­cal func­tions than those who had only local ther­a­py. The chemother­a­py patients’ scores were low­er on aver­age whether or not patients report­ed hav­ing depres­sion, anx­i­ety or fatigue, which can also reduce men­tal function.

Sci­enceDai­ly: Sci­en­tists Find ‘Chemo Brain’ No Fig­ment Of The Imagination

USATODAY.com — Chemo ‘brain fog’ can refuse to lift

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Margaret C. says

    I had chemo ther­a­py at age 30. I have the BRCA 1 can­cer gene. I’m a breast can­cer sur­vivor. My chemo was giv­en in 1977 for a year. This was done with an IV push method. Not an IV drip. The Dr. pushed the drugs into my veins. I could feel the heat rise all the way to the top of my head. I can tell you I under­stand Chemo Brain. I’m relieved there is a name attached to it now. I worked as a Med­ical Office Admin­is­tra­tor for many years after my recov­ery. How­ev­er, my Chemo Brain has not imporved. I notice with aging it’s even more not­i­ca­ble. It’s still worth it though because I’ve been here to see my grand­chil­dren. Chemo Brain and all, I see it as a gift of life.

  2. Alvaro says

    Mar­garet: thanks for shar­ing your sto­ry. And your great attitude.

    The great news is that neu­ro­sci­en­tists are start­ing to under­stand the prob­lem and how to help alle­vi­ate it. If you check back in a cou­ple of months, there may be data spe­cif­ic for your case regard­ing the ben­e­fits of com­put­er-based cog­ni­tive train­ing, and that may help. A pro­gram like https://sharpbrains.com/get-started/mindfit/ helps in a num­ber of aging-relat­ed areas, Chemo Brain or not

  3. Thomas Arnold says

    After a round of CHOP, six ses­sions of RICE and an attempt­ed stem cell trans­plant… I real­ly under­stand the term fog… work relat­ed activ­i­ties take much longer and a great deal more con­cen­tra­tions… I do high­way con­struc­tion esti­mat­ing and don’t trust my capa­bil­i­ties as before… it is real­ly scary som­days… my doc­tor seems to think it is caused by deo­res­sion but i am enjoy­ing the fact that i am still here…

  4. Alvaro says

    Hel­lo Thomas,

    We are very glad that you are here, too. And, with time and con­tin­ued prac­tice, those capa­bil­i­ties you need for your job should improve, so please keep doing your best.