news re chemo brain
news re chemo brain Hi
Saw this article in the paper this week,
Chemo drugs ‘destroy brain cells’
Chemotherapy can cause severe side effects
Drugs used to destroy cancer cells may actually be more harmful to healthy cells in the brain, research suggests.
A team from New York’s University of Rochester found several types of key brain cell were highly vulnerable to the drugs.
They say it might help explain side effects such as seizures and memory loss associated with chemotherapy - collectively dubbed ‘chemo brain’.
“No patient should stop their treatment because of this research.”
Unless they value quality of life over quantity!
true, but i suppose it the same with any kind of drug,
my memory at the mo is really bad hopefully only while treatment lasts, i have been keeping away from big carparks and use my mobile diary like never before.
I read the article too.
Forgive my ignorance (I dropped all science subjects as soon as I was allowed to) , but does anyone know if the effects are permanent?
Hi again I’m 4 years post diagnosis now, and my memory isn’t as good as it was - I do sometimes stop in the middle of a sentence and wonder what I was going to say! Having said that, I’m 54, so it could be old age arriving…
…that should make teaching literature fun when I eventually get back to work!
no conclusive research has yet been done If you re- read the statement it says thinigs like " may cause" and Identifed " brain cells vulnerable" which is scientific reasearch speak for " we’ve done a bit of work, and we’d like to do a lot more"
I’m not knocking them at all, just pointing out that no conclusive research has yet been done. As somebody pointed out, how can you tell what is caused by chemo, and what is caused by the normal ageing process, or myriad other factors?
I’m not immune from chemo brain myself, but it does seem to be fleeting, bad some days , not every day, so I’m not too worried personally about long term irreversible side effects.
As my fingers and feet are also numb from chemo, I’m having far more trouble typing anything without masses of typos!!!
Happy crimbo everyone,
Photolady
Mine wasn’t permanent (although some may disagree, i guess…!)
Chemo brains not the worst – I lived in a mental fog while taking Arimidex – I never even knew how bad it was. Stopped taking it because of the joint pains on my GP’s advise – as the pain went - my brain came back.
I still have a bit of chemo brain - but at least I can drive again.
Glo
missim there was another article saying chemo eliminates cells in cognitive areas of brain but they all get replaced in 2 yrs.
But when brain cells get replaced they aren’t much use until synaptic connections are made so we probably won’t feel the benefit for much longer than 2 yrs.
What mystifies me is that the blood brain barrier stops chemo treatments reaching brain mets so how does chemo reach brain to damage it?
Anyone know the answer?dilly
BY DELTHIA RICKS
Newsday Staff Writer
November 30, 2006
Chemotherapy not only causes the phenomenon called “chemobrain,” there now
is evidence of subtle changes in specific brain regions explaining why some
patients can’t remember where they’ve placed their keys or lose their way
along
well traveled routes.
Despite a few past studies suggesting that chemobrain - a feeling reported
by cancer patients of forgetfulness, confusion and disorientation - was more
imagined than real, a team of medical investigators in Japan found the
condition indeed is genuine and substantially affects cognition. Reported in
the
current issue of Cancer, the analysis provides concrete evidence that
chemotherapy affects regions involved in thinking, reasoning and
remembering.
American cancer specialists yesterday applauded the research, saying
Japanese scientists have pinpointed brain regions most vulnerable in
chemotherapy,
and thus have paved the way for preventive strategies.
“Prevention is not right around the corner” and remains years down the road,
said Dr. Stewart Fleishman, director of cancer supportive services at Beth
Israel and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt medical centers in Manhattan. “But now we
can
tell patients and their families what to expect,” Fleishman said.
Dr. Masatoshi Inagaki of Japan’s National Cancer Center Hospital explored
specific brain regions through magnetic resonance imaging. He compared two
groups: those who underwent chemo and those who did not.
Chemobrain has been reported among patients who have undergone chemotherapy
for virtually all forms of cancer but has been a particular complaint among
breast cancer patients. Some studies have suggested that up to 40 percent of
women who undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer are affected by cognitive
problems.
Some doctors have suggested that chemotherapy might alter the effects on
hormones on the brain, which in turn has an impact on cognition. Not until
now
had a team produced evidence of specifically affected brain sites.
Inagaki observed that in the 51 women who underwent chemo, there were
dramatically smaller volumes of brain tissue in specific sites one year
after
treatment compared with the 54 patients who were not exposed to the drugs.
Brain
sites most affected included the prefrontal lobe, parahippocampal, cingulate
gyrus and precuneus regions. Each is intimately involved in cognition.
Yet three years later, there were no significant differences in tissue
volume between the two groups of patients, suggesting the brain is capable
of
bouncing back.
Dr. Arnold Baskies of the American Cancer Society’s Eastern Division said
the study proves what patients have reported anecdotally for years:
Chemobrain
is real.
“This is a very interesting study because of the way it was done,” Baskies
said yesterday. “It was a controlled study of patients who had the same
disease and either received chemo or didn’t receive chemo. It demonstrated
something that many of us suspected for some time, that chemobrain does
exist.”
He said the powerful drugs used to fight cancer are capable of diffusing
through the blood-brain barrier, a protective sheath that keeps most harmful
substances out of the brain. Many chemo drugs are made up of molecules small
enough to breach the barrier.
Fleishman, who has conducted several studies on chemobrain, said the
Japanese research underscores that patients are not imagining their
symptoms.
In the past, Fleishman said, some physicians told chemo patients they
weren’t coping well with their circumstances. “I’ve seen a lot of these
patients,
and it’s definitely not just bad coping,” Fleishman said yesterday. “Up
until
now, those of us who work in this area assumed it was anatomic. Now we have
some data.”
Thought I’d lost the article but here it is. dilly
Thanks Dilly Dilly
many thanks for finding this report - makes utterly fascinating reading!
I will take comfort from the 3 year outcome of spontaneous resolution of chemo brain!
take care
Photolady