Researchers have linked chemotherapy with short-term structural changes in cognitive areas of the brain, according to a new study. Published in the January 1, 2007 issue of CANCER (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom)
Patients receiving chemotherapy have also long complained of problems with memory, problem-solving and other cognitive abilities. Although chemotherapy was thought not to affect brain cells due to the blood-brain barrier, recent clinical studies have confirmed declines in cognitive functions in patients receiving chemotherapy.
...researchers used MRI to take high-resolution images and measure volumes in specific areas of the brain of breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy and those who did not one-year after surgery and three-years after surgery..
The authors write that this study suggests that regional brain changes are observable within 12 months and correlate with receiving chemotherapy rather than a secondary effect of the cancer...However, these structural changes to the central nervous system were not sustained for patients three years after chemotherapy.
~Are many cancer survivors being treated (erroneously?) for depression? Are cancer survivors routinely screened for difficulties with memory, problem solving and decline in cognitive function? Do health insurance providers recognize these iatrogenic symptoms?
Do many survivors kill themselves within a year or so of their cancer's remission?