Brain connectivity tracks effects of chemotherapy separately from behavioral measures

Publication date: Available online 6 January 2019Source: NeuroImage: ClinicalAuthor(s): Omid Kardan, Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz, Scott Peltier, Nathan W. Churchill, Bratislav Misic, Mary K. Askren, Misook Jung, Bernadine Cimprich, Marc G. BermanAbstractSeveral studies in cancer research have suggested that cognitive dysfunction following chemotherapy, referred to in lay terms as “chemobrain”, is a serious problem. At present, the changes in integrative brain function that underlie such dysfunction remain poorly understood. Recent developments in neuroimaging suggest that patterns of functional connectivity can provide a broadly applicable neuromarker of cognitive performance and other psychometric measures. The current study used multivariate analysis methods to identify patterns of disruption in resting state functional connectivity of the brain due to chemotherapy and the degree to which the disruptions can be linked to behavioral measures of distress and cognitive performance. Sixty two women (22 healthy control, 18 patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, and 22 treated without chemotherapy) were evaluated with neurocognitive measures followed by self-report questionnaires and open eyes resting-state fMRI scanning at three time points: diagnosis (M0, pre-adjuvant treatment), 1 month (M1), and 7 months (M7) after treatment. The results indicated deficits in cognitive health of breast cancer patients immediately after chemotherapy that improved over time. This ps...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research