cancer-survivors

Study: Cognitive deficits continue long term in cancer survivors in domains important for social and executive functioning

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elderly_senior_memory_loss_confusionCog­ni­tive Deficits Con­tin­ue Long Term in Can­cer Sur­vivors (Med­scape):

“Although can­cer patients fre­quent­ly expe­ri­ence short-term cog­ni­tive deficits, lit­tle is known about how long these deficits last or whether they wors­en over time. Now, data from a large nation­al sam­ple sug­gest that cog­ni­tive deficits may per­sist long term. [Read more…] about Study: Cog­ni­tive deficits con­tin­ue long term in can­cer sur­vivors in domains impor­tant for social and exec­u­tive functioning

Chemo Brain and Brain Training

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Chemo brain or chemo fog refers to the cog­ni­tive changes that can occur dur­ing and after chemother­a­py. These changes may trans­late into mem­o­ry laps­es, motor prob­lems, dif­fi­cul­ty find­ing words and prob­lems man­ag­ing mul­ti­ple tasks and learn­ing new things. Although the caus­es of the phe­nom­e­non are still under debate, it is nonethe­less a real prob­lem, affect­ing 20% to 30% of breast can­cer patients who under­go chemother­a­py. This New York Time arti­cle reports that chemo brain effects may be longer last­ing than orig­i­nal­ly thought.

“Chemo brain,” the fog­gy think­ing and for­get­ful­ness that can­cer patients often com­plain about after treat­ment, may last for five years or more for a siz­able per­cent­age of patients, new research shows.

The study, pub­lished in The Jour­nal of Clin­i­cal Oncol­o­gy, is a vin­di­ca­tion of sorts for many can­cer patients, whose com­plaints about think­ing and mem­o­ry prob­lems are often dis­missed by doc­tors who lay blame for the symp­toms on nor­mal aging or the fatigue of illness.

What is offered to these patients to recov­er their brain func­tions faster? [Read more…] about Chemo Brain and Brain Training