Research has proven that breast cancer survivors can experience problems with certain mental abilities several
years after treatment, regardless of whether they were treated with
chemotherapy plus radiation or radiation only. In fact, there are
indications that there may be common and treatment-specific ways that
cancer therapies negatively affect cancer survivors’ mental abilities.
To compare the effects of different types of cancer treatment on such
mental abilities, a study examined 62 breast cancer patients treated
with chemotherapy plus radiation, 67 patients treated with radiation
only, and 184 women with no history of cancer. Study participants
completed neuropsychological assessments six months after completing
treatment and again 36 months later, which is further out from the end
of treatment than most previous studies of this type.
The study confirmed that chemotherapy can cause cognitive problems in
breast cancer survivors that persist for three years after they finish
treatment. In addition, the investigators found that breast cancer
survivors, who had been treated with radiation and not chemotherapy,
often experienced problems similar to those in breast cancer survivors
treated with both chemotherapy and radiation. (They did not find that
hormonal therapy, such as tamoxifen, caused cognitive difficulties.)
These findings suggest that the problems some breast cancer survivors
have with their mental abilities are not due just to the administration
of chemotherapy. The findings also provide a more complete picture of
the impact of cancer treatment on mental abilities than studies that did
not follow patients as long or look at mental abilities in breast
cancer survivors who had not been treated with chemotherapy. This study
gives voice to the many women who believe that they suffer from chemo
brain.
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