“Chemo Brain” Is Real

A common question new breast cancer patients pose when discussing a recommendation for adjuvant chemotherapy is whether they are likely to experience “chemo brain.” The physician refrain is that it can happen in some, it is poorly understood, it will usually be self-limited, and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it.

Now, investigators have conducted a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal study to compare cognitive function between 581 patients with stage I–IIIc breast cancer (mean age, 53 years; 48% received an anthracycline-based regimen) and 364 age-matched noncancer controls. Patients and controls were evaluated before and after scheduled chemotherapy and 6 months later using a validated tool to evaluate total cancer-related …