Researchers offering hope for ‘chemobrain’

August 17, 2009

Cancer patients and survivors who experience ‘chemobrain’ are being offered hope by a Sydney based research team investigating its causes and how to minimise or treat the condition.

Dr Janette Vardy, medical oncologist at the Sydney Cancer Centre and Co-Chair of the International Cognition and Cancer Taskforce, together with her colleague Haryana Dhillon, a behavioural scientist at the University of Sydney, is undertaking world-class research into chemobrain.

Dr Vardy will discuss their research at a free public lecture in Perth today as part of the Cancer Council Update series.

‘Chemobrain’ is a term coined by cancer patients to describe a loss of memory and concentration after undergoing chemotherapy treatment. No proven treatment presently exists.

Over 70 percent of cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy report suffering some memory problems during their treatment while around 20-30 per cent of chemotherapy patients are likely to suffer long term problems.

“Our studies have shown that a large number of people are affected by chemobrain and while the effects can be mild they can still reduce a person’s quality of life and lead to anxiety and depression in some instances,” said Dr Vardy.

One of the problems with chemobrain, according to Dr Vardy, was that for a long time it was largely a hidden problem, not raised by doctors because no treatment existed or because they assumed it was caused only by the stress of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

“We’ve shown quite clearly that’s not the case and we have established that cancer survivors who do suffer memory problems find it difficult to return to do the same things they were doing prior to being diagnosed,” said Dr Vardy.

"We want to help cancer survivors to improve their ability to perform day to day activities because we know that will help improve their quality of life.”

The team is one of the key groups internationally investigating the underlying causes of chemobrain and different treatments for it.

They are currently trialing a ‘brain train’ programme and a cognitive rehabilitation programme to help those affected to train themselves to better cope with the problems of memory and concentration loss.

Other studies involve animal models and functional MRI studies looking at whether the pattern of brain activity is different for cancer patients who suffer from chemobrain.

 “Some of the possible causes we’re investigating include whether the chemotherapy treatment is neurotoxic, whether a genetic pre-disposition exists or whether clotting factors and cytokines (inflammatory markers) may be elevated in those who suffer from chemobrain.

 “Because cancer survivors are living longer, there’s all the more incentive for research teams like ours to help detect and combat the problems that arise from chemobrain,” said Dr Vardy.