A UCLA study has found that breast cancer survivors who received chemotherapy show measurable changes in brain metabolism and blood flow that can persist for years after treatment, offering a possible biological explanation for the cognitive difficulties many patients report.
Researchers scanned the brains of 21 breast cancer patients who had undergone surgery five to 10 years earlier; 16 of them had also received chemotherapy. The women were monitored while performing memory and concentration tasks.
Lead researcher Daniel Silverman described the symptoms as an inability to focus, retain information, or handle multiple tasks as before. The study, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, identified specific metabolic alterations in those patients.
Estimates of how many chemotherapy patients experience such cognitive effects vary widely. The UCLA team cited figures ranging from at least 25 percent to as high as 82 percent, the latter drawn from a separate University of Minnesota study. Breast cancer accounts for more than 211,000 new diagnoses annually in the United States.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.