Chemobrain, a term used to describe the mental fog and confusion some women experience after chemotherapy treatment, is very real and researchers who studied the frontal lobe brain activity of women suffering from the occurrence have an explanation for why chemobrain happens. Based on a study done by University of California researchers, chemotherapy drugs disrupt the brain's metabolism and blood flow."The same area of the frontal lobe that showed lower resting metabolism displayed a substantial leap in activity when the patients were performing the memory exercise," said Daniel Silverman, the UCLA associate professor who led the study. "In effect, these women's brains were working harder than the control subjects to recall the same information."
In Chemobrain: when a fog settles over your mind, I described my personal experience with the mental confusion and the fog that settled over my mind in the first years after chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. Chemobrain does not affect every woman who undergoes chemotherapy, but for the women it does affect, the struggle with the temporary damage suffered from chemotherapy on brain function, in diminished capacities of comprehension, concentration, and memory can be frustrating. The fog does eventually lift and patience, as well as engaging in mental activity that promotes concentration, seemed to help.
The current study is published in the online edition of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
