Lingering memory problems, as well as other cognitive difficulties, have been linked to commonly used chemo drugs. For example, approximately 50% of women treated for breast cancer reported having cognitive problems when asked a year after chemotherapy ended.
Researchers have been trying to pinpoint side-effects of different chemo drugs. 5-fluorouracil affects the central nervous system even after treatment ceases. This was discovered by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in NY and Harvard Medical School. They hope that this information will eventually lead to being able to eliminate...
...the negative side-effects related to the popular drugs especially since long term damage has been found to be much graver than the short term side-effects. Damage can continue long after the drug is discontinued.
Other studies have been trying to understand the cognitive deficits associated with chemotherapy, what is called “chemobrain”. For example, Nobel and colleagues found that certain chemotherapy drugs were more damaging to the healthy cells than to the cancer cells. In one of their studies, they found, using rats, that 5-fluorouracil damaged progenitor cells (immature cells that develop into specialized cells) as well as oligodendrocytes, (which helps myelin production; myelin is a fatty coating on nerves which facilitates communication between different nerves). This supports the hypothesis of a physiological basis for the symptoms of “chemobrain”.
More research is needed in order to develop appropriate measures to combat the cognitive and memory deterioration or to prevent/limit the damage being done to the healthy cells. Perhaps clues lie in those patients who do not suffer cognitive difficulties following treatment. For now, Nobel and colleagues are researching why deterioration continues in hopes of finding a solution.
[Source: HealthDay]
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