Source: New York Times

Research into the cognitive functions of people who've undergone high-dose chemotherapy has shown that a small number of survivors show some long-term neurological effects from the treatment. The phenomena, now known as "chemo brain", had been anecdotally noted by a number of patients but oncologists were historically dismissive of claims regarding long-term neurological effects of the chemo. However, recent research on this subject estimates that as many as fifteen percent of patients, many of them women, do show symptoms of chemo brain. The cognitive effects are rarely life-threatening, but they do impact the daily lives of these survivors and often take the form of short-term memory loss, proneness to confusion and an inability, or at least a slower ability, to choose among a set of dichotomous options.

The majority of patients who've undergone chemotherapy do show limited, short-term signs of neurological impairment, such as memory loss and poor concentration, but most get over these effects and return to one hundred percent cognitive ability within a few months. It is not yet understood why survivors with chemo brain do not regain full neurological ability and the answer to this question is still years away. However, the identification of chemo brain as a real condition has been an important development in the lives of all survivors, as it has provided some legitimacy to the effects that each struggles with in the wake of their chemotherapy.

Labels: cancer, general