Chemo Shrinks The Brain

	Temporary Brain Shrinkage May Explain 'Chemobrain'
	By Neil Osterweil, Senior Associate Editor, MedPage Today Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. November 27, 2006

CHIBA, Japan, Nov. 27 -- The thought-fogging phenomenon known as "chemobrain" appears to be related to a reversible shrinking of brain structures induced by chemotherapy, researchers here have found.

Action Points

• Explain to patients that cancer chemotherapy appears to have a temporary and reversible effect on thought processes and memory, and that the cancer treatment benefits far outweigh possible short-term effects on cognitive function.

MRI scans of breast cancer survivors within a year of completing adjuvant chemotherapy showed significantly smaller regional volumes of gray and white matter in areas involved in cognitive function compared with other survivors or healthy controls, they reported in an online release from the Jan. 1 issue of Cancer.

By three years after treatment, however, those differences had vanished, said Masatoshi Inagaki, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Center Hospital East, and colleagues.

"Results lead to the idea that adjuvant chemotherapy could have a temporary effect on brain structure," the authors wrote. "These findings can provide new insights for future research to improve the quality of life of cancer patients who receive adjuvant chemotherapy."

Patients undergoing chemotherapy often complain of cognitive and memory problems, and clinical studies have confirmed cognitive declines. Evidence from animal studies has also shown that systemic chemotherapy can have neurotoxic effects.

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via: rense.com