More "good" news about the effects of chemo

[Molly]

Common chemotherapy drugs can kill healthy brain cells
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/healthcance ... &printer=1)

Common drugs used to treat cancer patients may do more harm than good by killing healthy brain cells, a research study shows.

The study, which further indicated that chemotherapy can cause long-term brain damage, gives scientists clues to the causes of "chemo brain", a side effect many cancer patients complain of while under treatment, a summary of the research said.

Mark Noble, a specialist in neural stem cell biology at the University of Rochester, New York, led a research team which tested healthy brain cells with normal clinical doses of chemotherapy drugs carmustine, cisplatin and cytosine arabinoside.

The drugs are often used to treat people suffering certain breast cancers, lung cancer, colon cancer, leukemia, brain tumors and some lymphomas.

The study found that the drugs were more toxic to neural cells than to the cancer cells they targeted. The drugs killed 70-100 percent of brain cells, while only 40-80 percent of the cancer cells were killed.

Tested on animal neural cells, the cells kept dying for six weeks after the treatment was administered, the study found.

The scientists were not surprised that all-important dividing stem cells were killed by the drugs, but noted the danger that "the loss of dividing cells has onerous consequences as these populations are responsible for replenishing the other cell types in the central nervous system."

The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Biology, gave scientists some insight into the causes of "chemo brain": complaints by some four out of five chemotherapy patients of neurological side effects such as loss of memory, loss of vision, seizures and sometimes dementia.

"This is the first study that puts chemo brain on a sound scientific footing, in terms of neurobiology and cellular biology," Noble said in a statement.

A study released in October by the University of California at Los Angeles medical school showed that chemotherapy can provoke changes in a person's metabolism and blood flow in the brain for at least 10 years after the treatment has ended.


Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.


Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

[Pollyanna]

And where, exactly, is the the "good" part? That we now have scientific validation that we're collectively all not going crazy?

Fortunately for me, I'm weird enough that I can write off "chemo brain" as just another one of the long list of my eccentricities.

So charming, so now.

[Molly]

Sorry. The "good" was my stab of sarcasm.

Just keeps getting better...

[Billy]

I have to disagree with the findingsougnao. My brainsed is wrkkng just finey, thank yousse!

[missjv]

IM ALREADY A NUT CASE AND HAD DAILY BRAIN FARTS BEFORE GOING ON CHEMO I ACTUALLY DON'T FEEL ANY DIFFERENT THEN I DID BEFORE GOING ON CHEMO IN THE BRAIN DEPARTMENT, HOWEVER MY HAIR IS THINNING OUT STILL AND I HAVE NOT HAD CHEMO SINCE OCTOBER 24 DUE TO UPCOMING LIVER RESECTION NEXT WEEK.

MISSJV

[PGLGreg]

I have to disagree with the findingsougnao. My brainsed is wrkkng just finey, thank yousse!

Heh. Me, too. But I didn't see anything in this brief account that would justify the claim that chemo does "more harm than good". Which is really the point, since we all know it does harm. I didn't see anything supporting any connection to "chemo brain" (dying brain cells don't necessarily cause you to forget things), and the proportion "4 out of 5" chemo patients complaining of neurological side effects seems wildly exaggerated, to me.

[Lifes2short]

So does the chemo kill my brain cells faster than the alcohol that I consume between rounds?

I do believe that I have some mild chemo brain. But it could also be stress brain, worry brain, tired brain or any other such compaint. It is scary to think that it could keep effecting out brains for as much as ten years.

I think it's food for thought for people with early stage cancers who might be evaluating the pros and cons of aggressive chemo treatment. But for a stage IV patient like myself. There's really no other choice. Chemo or mets...