BrainBlog

Nathan PC, Patel SK, Dilley K, Goldsby R, Harvey J, Jacobsen C, Kadan-Lottick N, McKinley K, Millham AK, Moore I, Okcu MF, Woodman CL, Brouwers P, Armstrong FD; Children's Oncology Group Long-term Follow-up Guidelines Task Force on Neurocognitive/Behavioral Complications After Childhood Cancer. Guidelines for identification of, advocacy for, and intervention in neurocognitive problems in survivors of childhood cancer: A report from the Children's Oncology Group. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine . 2007 Aug; 161(8): 798-806. Division of Haematology/Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada. With modern therapies and supportive care, survival of childhood cancer has increased considerably. Patients who have survived cancers involving the central nervous system or who have received therapy toxic to the developing brain are at risk of long-term neurocognitive sequelae. Negative outcomes are observed most frequently in su...

From yesterday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel : Lost in cancer's fog 'Chemobrain' impairs thinking, memory after chemotherapy; anecdotal brain effects are just starting to get serious study By JOHN FAUBER 01 September 2007 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel [snip] In two small groups of testicular and breast cancer patients, between 60% and 70% of the patients experienced some cognitive decline that was tied to the onset of their chemotherapy, said Christina Meyers, a professor and chief of neuropsychology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "It's subtle," she said. "We are not talking about dementia or anything grossly obvious." Within one year, about half of the patients were back to their pretreatment levels of cognitive ability, Meyers said. [snip] [ ... Read the full article ... ]