It's not exactly clear what causes these cognitive changes in people with cancer. Researchers think that treatments may cause changes and inflammation in brain cells. They suggest that it could be a combination of factors, including: the diagnosis of cancer and all the stress and emotion that this brings.
Cognitive changes include problems with memory, concentration and how a person can think. Your doctor might call this cancer related cognitive impairment. These changes are also sometimes called chemo brain or chemo fog because they were originally thought to be due to chemotherapy.
Cognitive impairment is an adverse reaction of cancer chemotherapy and is likely to affect up to 75% of patients during the treatment and 35% of patients INTRODUCTIONCOGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT REDUCED NEUROGENESIS
Often referred to as cancer-related cognitive impairment, chemo brain can be marked by severe memory problems, a lack of mental sharpness, and what many people who experience it describe as “mental fog.” The chemotherapy drug cisplatin is commonly linked to chemo brain.
Overview. Chemo brain is a common term used by cancer survivors to describe thinking and memory problems that can occur during and after cancer treatment. Chemo brain can also be called chemo fog, cancer-related cognitive impairment or cognitive dysfunction.
Do patients with cancer-related cognitive impairment have memory problems?
Treatments for patients with cancer-related cognitive impairment have shown minimal to modest benefit.
Therefore, compassionate acknowledgment of the concerns and a supportive approach are essential.
Jean-Pierre P, Winters PC, Ahles TA, et al.:
Prevalence of self-reported memory problems in adult cancer survivors:a national cross-sectional study. Does chemotherapy cause cognitive impairment?
One study examined the influence of priming patients to associate chemotherapy treatment with the experience of cognitive impairment.
Via cancer websites, investigators recruited 150 cancer patients who were receiving or had received chemotherapy and 86 patients who had no experience with chemotherapy. [ 3] .
Does endocrine therapy affect cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors?
Breast cancer survivors who received chemotherapy plus endocrine therapy had statistically significant and clinically meaningful change in perceived cognitive impairment at 3 and 6 months, compared with those who received endocrine therapy alone, but this difference abated over time.
Overview
Chemo brain is a common term used by cancer survivors to describe thinking and memory problems that can occur during and after cancer treatment. Chemo brain can also be called chemo fog, cancer-related cognitive impairment or cognitive dysfunction.
Though chemo brain is a widely used term, the causes of concentration and memory problems aren't well.
Risk Factors
Factors that may increase the risk of memory problems in cancer survivors include: 1.
Brain cancer 2.
Cancer that spreads (metastasizes) to the brain 3.
Higher doses of chemotherapy or radiation.
4) Radiation therapy to the brain 5.
Younger age at time of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
6) Increasing age
What is chemo brain?
Chemo brain can also be called chemo fog, cancer-related cognitive impairment or cognitive dysfunction.
Though chemo brain is a widely used term, the causes of concentration and memory problems aren't well-understood.
It's likely that there are multiple causes.
