Imaging as a means of studying chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment

Abstract

The chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (chemo fog/chemo brain) that is reported by many cancer patients is supported to varying degrees primarily by evidence from prospective and retrospective clinical studies. However, the inherent difficulty in conducting such trials (including ethical issues of placebo-controlled designs), the fact that the cognitive impairment is characteristically subtle and that the patients might be able to compensate for their deficits during testing, gives rise to questions about the degree and the extent of the problem-and indeed even if there is a problem. Neuroimaging techniques might offer additional insight. This chapter is a succinct summary of a more expanded review of the relatively few such studies.