Chemotherapy Alters Brain Tissue in Breast Cancer Patients, Say Indiana University Researchers

Dear Readers, 

Before you read the press release below, I'd like you to know that the concept of using brain scans to connect the dots between chemotherapy and cognitive dysfunction is not new.  

What is new is that this study was "prospective," meaning "over time."  Whereas in other studies the participants had already been through some amount of chemotherapy or had completed treatment years prior, Dr. Saykin and his team did a "before" and "after." They scanned patients prior to undergoing chemo or radiation and then at two points after going through chemo. So they had some good data comparing the changes in brain tissue.