chemotherapy

Growing research shows how two of the major cancer treatments, radiation and chemotherapy, can lead to long-term cognitive impairment

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Mind jum­ble: Under­stand­ing chemo brain (Stan­ford Medicine):

Sarah Liu was treat­ed for leukemia as a teenag­er. She attend­ed her high school grad­u­a­tion on a four-hour pass from Lucile Packard Children’s Hos­pi­tal Stan­ford and was bald under her white grad­u­a­tion cap, her arm ban­daged where she’d been receiv­ing chemother­a­py drugs.

Liu sur­vived can­cer and the ordeal of her treat­ment, and for many years she thrived. But today, at 53, she strug­gles to remem­ber the names of all the Stan­ford oncol­o­gists who helped her, though she reveres them for sav­ing her life. Many years lat­er, her child­hood can­cer treat­ments — chemother­a­py and radi­a­tion — have left her brain muddled…She’s among the legions of can­cer sur­vivors suf­fer­ing from chemo brain, a neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­der for­mal­ly known as chemother­a­py-relat­ed cog­ni­tive impairment…

[Read more…] about Grow­ing research shows how two of the major can­cer treat­ments, radi­a­tion and chemother­a­py, can lead to long-term cog­ni­tive impairment

Finally, growing awareness of chemotherapy-induced cognitive deficits

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fog brainBrain activ­i­ty changes seen after chemo (Reuters):

“For some women with breast can­cer, changes in brain activ­i­ty while mul­ti­task­ing could explain “chemo brain” – reduced men­tal func­tion­ing that many expe­ri­ence after chemother­a­py, Bel­gian researchers say. “Cog­ni­tive com­plaints of peo­ple increase with chemother­a­py and [Read more…] about Final­ly, grow­ing aware­ness of chemother­a­py-induced cog­ni­tive deficits

Measuring and treating Chemo Brain

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‘Chemo Brain’ After Breast Can­cer Backed by Study (US News):

“Breast can­cer patients treat­ed with chemother­a­py are at risk for mild men­tal deficits known col­lec­tive­ly as “chemo brain,” a new study finds. Researchers at the Mof­fitt Can­cer Cen­ter in Tam­pa, Fla., reviewed exist­ing research on brain func­tion (“cog­ni­tive” func­tion­ing) in [Read more…] about Mea­sur­ing and treat­ing Chemo Brain

Update: Time to become mental capitalists and invest in our brains?

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Time for the Novem­ber edi­tion of the month­ly Sharp­Brains eNewslet­ter, fea­tur­ing a wealth of resources and insights on how to invest in our brains, includ­ing top­ics such as brain health, med­i­ta­tion, neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy, brain train­ing games, chemo brain, dyslex­ia, neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, cog­ni­tive bias­es, stress, and more. Not to for­get a cou­ple of fun teasers. Enjoy!

Brain Fit­ness Q&A Sessions:

The Big Picture:

New Research:

New Books:

Brain Teasers:

Thank you for your inter­est and atten­tion and have a great December.

Research on ‘Chemo Brain’: MRI Shows Brain Changes After Chemotherapy

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‘Chemo Brain’: MRI Shows Brain Changes After Chemother­a­py (Med­scape):

- “Breast can­cer sur­vivors who have been treat­ed with chemother­a­py show sig­nif­i­cant changes in brain activ­i­ty, mea­sured by func­tion­al mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing (fMRI), accord­ing to a study pub­lished in the Novem­ber issue of the Archives of Neu­rol­o­gy.”

- “The find­ing val­i­dates patients’ claims of reduced cog­ni­tive func­tion after receiv­ing chemother­a­py, a phe­nom­e­non referred to as “chemo brain,” said lead author Shel­li R. Kesler, PhD, from Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty School of Med­i­cine in California.”

Link to study Pre­frontal Cor­tex and Exec­u­tive Func­tion Impair­ments in Pri­ma­ry Breast Can­cer (Archives of Neu­rol­o­gy): [Read more…] about Research on ‘Chemo Brain’: MRI Shows Brain Changes After Chemotherapy

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