Chemotherapy and Brain Damage - Is There a Link?

Many chemo patients report mental impairment. Some estimates say as many as 50%. They notice it during and after chemo. The impairment was not present before chemo. Is there a link between chemotherapy and brain damage?

Chemo uses chemicals to kill cancer cells. The body is pumped full of toxins. This would likely cause some cognitive deficits. Mental impairment occurs more often in those treated for cancer involving the reproductive system. Examples are breast and prostate cancers. In these cancers, the chemo levels are very high.

Some call the mental impairment a mental fog. Some call this condition chemofog. The term chemo brain came about in 2004. The term describes the mental fog patients feel during and after chemo treatments.

Researchers have known about chemo brain for over twenty years. Since the 1980's, there are a large number of breast cancer survivors. Many of them have reported symptoms. They started to suspect issues with chemotherapy and brain damage.

They were reporting problems they did not have prior to chemo. Problems with their memory. They were fumbling for words in the middle of sentences. They could not concentrate like before. They could not multi-task any longer. They were having a hard time learning new things. These are typical reports from a chemo brain sufferer. They were feeling half-crippled.

These symptoms lasted for a few weeks to years. Survivors reported different levels of each symptom.

Only recently have there been studies involving chemotherapy and brain damage. The medical profession did not understand the phenomenon. Doctors trivialized the condition for years.

The cause of chemo brain still is not clear. It is not clear how often it happens or what actually triggers it. Some theories are that stress, fatigue and depression causes the effects. Hormone changes, lack of estrogen.

When talking about chemotherapy and brain damage with patients, they have differing views. Some patients have extreme symptoms. Some notice no issues. They are not always sure if they have chemo brain or age-related issues. While other cannot notice a difference before chemo than after chemo.

Medical professionals also have conflicting views on chemotherapy and brain damage.

Some say that the link is real. They point to the large number of documented chemo brain cases. There are also a growing number of studies by researchers. These studies are showing that mental impairment after chemo is real. They are also showing that the impairment can last longer than two years.

In one study, researchers took brain scans of breast cancer survivors. They used chemo patients and patients who survived cancer through surgery. The study showed the brains of chemo patients had to work harder to perform the same tasks.

Others argue the stress of chemo could have an impact on mental function. They also cite reduced levels of estrogen, fatigue, and anxiety. These could all cause chemo brain symptoms. They also point to other medications. Chemo patients often take other drugs to treat chemo side effects.

Another study on chemotherapy and brain damage had a different conclusion. They discovered there might not be a link between chemotherapy and brain damage after all. This study evaluated the cognitive state of women before chemo. Thirty five percent of the women showed some level of mental impairment. Memory was impaired most often.

The conclusion was twofold. First, the cause of chemo brain might be due to factors not considered yet. The second is that any study linking chemotherapy and brain damage must include tests prior to chemo.

The debate about chemotherapy and brain damage will continue.

The bottom line is that the cause of the mental impairment does not matter. What matters is that people are suffering. Chemo brain, cognitive impairment, chemofog, what ever you call it. It has a direct impact on a person's quality of life.

Dr. Henry Mahncke notes how similar chemo brain and age-related mental decay is. Dr. Mahncke is Vice President of Research and Outcomes for Posit Sciences. Posit Sciences develops innovative brain training software. Their software provides brain health and improves cognitive performance.

Brain training is one way to help recover from chemo brain. Thousands have been able to regain their cognitive function due to many different causes. Chemo brain is one of them.

Brain Tumor - There is A Cure

To a layman, brain tumor is basically cancer of the brain. Medulloblastoma, ependymoma, glioma, teratoma, atypical teratoid rhadoid tumor, etc, are names associated with different types of brain tumor. Cancer Medicine

In simple terms, brain tumor is no more than uncontrolled growth of cells forming a lump in the brain. Just like any other form of cancers, brain tumor can spread and proliferate to any other parts of the body. Even before the brain tumor proliferates, or metastasize as a medical doctor or an oncologist would say it, the tumor could wreak havoc in the brain. Our brain, as we know it, controls the rest of the body. Any disturbance up there will affect our normal functioning of the various faculties. Therefore, symptoms of brain tumor really depends on where and how big the tumor is.

This article brings to light a relatively new form of treatment that could bring hope to those afflicted with brain tumor.

The ideal objective of any treatment for brain tumor is total removal of the tumor, without any recurrence and proliferation. The most common treatment is surgical removal of the tumor. Surgery posts the high risks of damaging even a tiny bit of the surrounding structure, tissues or nerves.  Apart from conventional surgery, the newer types of surgery include what is known as stereotactic radiosurgery and gamma knife radiosurgery.  These two forms of surgery are specific, but are still considered ionizing and invasive, respectively. This article shares with the reader a non-surgical, non-ionizing, and non-invasive form of treatment for cancer.

This technology is commercially known as CYTOTRON, or scientifically known as RFQMR or Rotational Field Quantum Magnetic Resonance. Cytotron came into the world in 2006 after more than a decade of research and fine-tuning. It is invented by Dr. Rajah Vijay Kumar from Bangalore, India. Dr Kumar is a tissue reengineering scientist. He works with medical doctors and specialist in inventing the Cytotron. This technology was first successfully applied to the treatment of osteoarthritis. For details on this aspect, please refer to my upcoming article 'Osteoarthritis - There Is cure!'.

The layman explanation of Cytotron in cancer treatment is simplified here. The Cytotron uses radio and near radio frequency to beam specifically on the tumor or cancerous area. What Cytotron tries to accomplish is to induce the self-death of the cancer cells. This is known as apoptosis in medical term. In cancer cells, the process of natural death is missing due to some missing process in the cell cycle. With Cytotron, that process of natural death is restored without affecting the neighboring normal cells. With the many cases that had been treated, the MRI results showed objective evidence of the arrest of cancer growth and also the disappearance of the cancer cells.

One of the most amazing successful cases of Cytotron treatment on cancer was a 7 year-old girl from Ipoh of Perak state, Malaysia. This girl, Ying, was detected with brain tumor when her parents noticed she was not able to behave normally and knocked into things around the house. Her brain tumor led to her loss of vision and, if untreated, she was on the brink of death. About one year after the tumor was detected, it had grown from 3 to 4 centimeters, and then, increased by another centimeter in just another 4 months. Then, she was put on a 28 consecutive, 1 hour per day treatment with the Cytotron. During the Cytotron treatment, her condition had already begun to show improvement. 3 months after the treatment, her MRI clearly showed that the brain tumor growth had been successfully arrested. Half a year later, the tumor totally collapsed. Today, at the age of 9 years old, she has gone back to school like other kids.

To those who are living with the agony of cancer, CYTOTRON, or RFQMR, may bring new light to their lives.