Cognitive deficits as long-term side-effects of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients: 'subjective' complaints and 'objective' neuropsychological test results

Abstract

Objective: Various studies have demonstrated that neuropsychological deficits are potential side-effects of adjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients. To date, little is known about the long-term development of these deficits and their implications for patients' everyday life.

Methods: Within the framework of an intervention study, 90 breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy were examined at three measurement points. The focus of this article is on the cognitive status at the last measurement point (on average, 9 months after the end of oncological therapy) and, in particular, on the correlations between subjective self-appraisal and neuropsychological test results.

Results: Although the prevalence of neuropsychological deficits significantly decreased as time elapsed after the end of oncological therapy, 21% of our sample group still displayed indications of clinically relevant long-term cognitive deficits. A sub-group of severely affected patients showed specific deficits in verbal-semantic memory and judged their everyday cognitive performance as being extremely poor.

Conclusion: The identification of verbal-semantic memory as a specific problem area has important implications on the planning of future studies with regard to both the examination of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and the specific effects of these deficits on patients' self-appraisal.