If this is not your name, click here.
| | If this is not your name, click here. | | |
| | Contact Us | Order Now | Journals | Bookstore | Register a colleague | | |
| |  Chemotherapy Contributes to Cognitive Difficulties in Older Adults, Even After Treatment Ends: Presented at AAGP By Carole VanSickle Ellis SAVANNAH, Ga -- March 9, 2010 -- Cancer has, for many middle-aged and elderly individuals, become a chronic but survivable illness. However, with this new longevity come psychological and psychiatric issues related to cancer diagnosis and treatment that previously were unknown due to the relatively short life span of a diagnosed cancer patient. “Even oncology is beginning to recognise that cancer treatments -- even in the periphery -- can affect the brain,” said Paul Newhouse, MD, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. In a series of 4 studies presented here on March 7 at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP), patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy were followed and their cognition abilities analysed and evaluated. Functional brain changes were studied with position positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging. The researchers assembled data on anti-hormone cancer treatments and their effect on brain function in older men and women, with particular focus on long-term ageing trajectory decades after the cancer itself has been dealt with and even forgotten. Susan Schulz, MD, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, detected a small but significant change in global cognitive function in her study, in which she examined the neuropsychological function in 30 women aged 65 years and older who had survived cancer for 10 or more years. The women had received chemotherapy on average 16.8 years ago and were compared with 30 healthy controls. While the team did detect a mild difference between the groups when it came to age-related cognitive changes like verbal memory and psychomotor function, Dr. Schulz said, it was important to note that this was cognitive weakness, not Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and no subject tested abnormally low for their age. Monique Cherrier, PhD, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, investigated androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) on mood, cognition, and quality of life in men with prostate cancer. During the study, PET was used to evaluate relative cerebral glucose metabolic changes in men undergoing ADT as well. The study found that patients showed a greater reduction in glucose metabolism in the ADT group than in the control group, and since long-term androgen deprivation can lead to diabetic complications, the researchers suggested that the glucose metabolism problems could be contributing to cognitive difficulties. However, the group emphasised that these detrimental effects on cognition were presently restricted to a subset of men because the trial group was limited in size (n = 20). Andrew Sayskin, PsyD, University of Indiana, Indianapolis, Indiana, used cognitive imaging to explore the early effects of cancer chemotherapy, while Julie Dumas, PhD, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, helped analyse and contextualise the results. The subjects’ own brains were used as controls, since none had started chemotherapy before beginning the study. Imaging done after the patients began chemotherapy showed a decrease in gray matter density from baseline to 1 month post chemo. Patients also reported cognitive difficulties during this time. After 1 year, the decrease was sustained, reported Dr. Sayskin. [Presentation title: Cancer, Chemotherapy and the Aging Brain: New Findings. Abstract S32]
|
