The Effects of Chemotherapy on the Brain

The brain is best described as the most complex part about the human anatomy. The brain controls everything we do from the mathematical problems we solve to the tennis racket we swing to the simple things such as breathing or blinking. The brain plays an important role in keeping us alive and functional in our current day society. Chemotherapy is an amazing thing, it has saved countless lives, and will continue to do so until we find a cure for cancer is found, until then a great deal of people will be thankful for its use (see figure 1). However it does have side effects, side effects that may not be so forgiving. The term "Chemo Brain", derived from chemotherapy-related cognitive dysfunction, was coined by cancer patients who after prolonged exposure to Chemotherapy have seen certain changes, changes in the way their brain functions and performs its daily tasks. The American Cancer Society, also known as the ACS, describes the symptoms of "Chemo Brain" as memory lapses, trouble concentrating, trouble multi-tasking, trouble remembering details and trouble finish simple tasks. Though these are not the sole side effects experienced by patients and survivors the surveys taken by the ACS show that they are definitely the most common.2

Chemo Brain:

"Chemo Brain" is more specifically the harm that has been done to the cognitive system due to the chemotherapy. Though the blame cannot be solely blamed on chemotherapy it seems to be extremely common among those who have undergone some sort of chemotherapy. Given the estimated 1.5 million new cases of cancer for 2009, there is a big pool of patients to choose from, however the research being done is miniscule compared to this number. In a study per-formed with over 500 patients, over 80 percent of the patients expressed having cognitive difficulties after their diagnosis.3,11

Being the common link between millions of cases, scientists have to wonder could there really be anything else? There is research being conducted, however since they have unsuccessfully been able to prove anything, scientists are attempting to do the opposite; by that they are trying to prove that the cause behind "Chemo Brain" is nothing else, therefore it has to be the chemotherapy. There has been progress as to find a cure and possibly prevent this syn-drome. What scientists have found is that by working your brain throughout the course of your treatment is possible to reduce these effects if not prevent them at all. When a patient is exposed to chemotherapy he/she is exposed to a drug that finds and attacks cells. It cannot differentiate the good from the bad cells, so it just kills everything; in essence it wipes everything out and accepts casualties in order to rid that person completely of the cancer. The killing of brain cells does come with a toll. Brain cells are not easily replaced, and by killing so many every time the patient