Thanks to early diagnosis and chemotherapy, more women survive breast cancer than ever before.
However, following treatment, approximately 25 percent of survivors experience mild to moderate memory, concentration and cognitive problems known as “chemobrain”.
“Several studies have investigated chemotherapy's cause and effect on memory problems, but until now scientists had no clue what changes in the brain lead to memory loss,” Jame Abraham, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program at West Virginia University's Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, said.
Abraham and his research team conducted one of the first chemobrain studies of its kind. The study documented the extent of changes to the brain's white matter in women who received chemotherapy for breast cancer.
The preliminary study involved ten breast cancer patients who had received chemotherapy and complained of cognitive changes. A control group of nine healthy women of similar age, education and IQ, who never received chemotherapy, was also studied.
All participants were screened for medical, neurologic and psychiatric conditions that could affect brain structure or function. Participants were tested for depression, anxiety and processing speed.
Each participant also participated in a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) MRI scan. The DTI was used to assess changes in the white matter of the brain.
“The images indicated differences in the white matter in the front part of the brain in women who had received chemotherapy,” said Marc Haut, Ph.D., of WVU's departments of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, Neurology and Radiology. “This difference in white matter correlated with how quickly the breast cancer patients could process information.”