Some chemo drugs cause long-term side effects, like heart or nerve damage or fertility problems. Different cells and tissues in the body tolerate chemotherapy differently. Posts: 1 Joined: Sep 2000 Sep 27, 2000 - 10:22 am. If this happens, you may feel a burning or shooting pain or numbness (neuropathy), usually in your fingers or toes. Chemotherapy drugs (including vinorelbine, cisplatin and taxanes such as paclitaxel and docetaxel) can cause nerve damage. Scientists to investigate whether coronavirus patients with neurological symptoms are affected long-term. She is easy to fatigue and has a foggy mind. Your email. Submit a question; About iHeard; I've heard that chemotherapy can cause changes to the brain, such as 'chemo brain' and mental illness. Tiredness (fatigue) is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy. For example, researchers first looked at this in women with breast cancer and found that chemotherapy might be the cause. Others report no effect on brain function. Chemotherapy and brain damage? These problems were first reported after chemotherapy treatment. A new study shows that short-term chemotherapy causes not only acute injury to progenitor cells, but also delayed damage to myelin. Chemotherapy adversely affects cognitive function both acutely and chronically, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Chemotherapy can be more toxic to brain cells than to cancer cells and may cause brain damage BioMed Central. Can Covid-19 cause brain damage? Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells, but they can also damage healthy cells. Chemotherapy can cause unpleasant side effects, although many can be treated or prevented, and most will pass once your treatment stops. Nervous system damage is often related to the dose of the drug. Is it caused by chemotherapy as the name suggests or is there more to it? What are cognitive changes (chemo brain)? Cardiac Concerns . Yes, some conventional chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer can increase your risk of heart problems. Some treatment, including certain forms of chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and immunotherapy, can also cause cognitive dysfunction, meaning they can directly or indirectly disrupt, damage or alter normal brain function. New research explains the brain chemistry behind chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction and finds a potential new therapy for preventing it. Chemotherapy can cause cardiac effects early in treatment, but in some cases, the effects may not show up until much later. They discovered there might not be a link between chemotherapy and brain damage after all. Cancer and chemotherapy also cause other issues, like anaemia or infections, that can potentially affect thought processes. This damage to healthy cells causes side effects. Chemotherapy can be a terrible cure. Some chemotherapy drugs can cause long term problems with specific body organs. So these changes used to be called chemo brain. Still, many people have no long-term problems from chemo. I would like to subscribe to Science X Newsletter. Chemotherapy. It causes nausea, hair loss, reduced appetite, fatigue, and muscle wasting. How does chemotherapy cause damage to nerves? She has never fully recovered. 1,2 Mrs Donna Faulkner can chemo therapy cause mental illness or brain damage patient being taken to court by daughter cancer survivor 3x heart patient epilepsy PAD breathing/lung problems one kidney 63 years old divorced due to daughter break breakup (35 yrs married) Wed, 18 Jan 2012. Swedish researchers took … Chemotherapy kills cancer cells, but as a side effect, it damages and kills normal nerve cells. Additionally, chemotherapy can cause long-term lung damage, leading to thickening of the lungs’ lining, inflammation and difficulty breathing. Scientists think a combination of all these things affects the way your brain … Some of the treatments used to in blood cancer, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy, may cause damage to organs. Chemotherapy 'could cause brain damage' in breast cancer patients. My mother had breast cancer in 1993. Research has not been able to determine causes of chemo brain. They also point to other medications. Pneumonia and the flu can cause infections in adults, which may cause you to have problems with cognition. Chemotherapy may affect these peripheral nerves in the hands and feet first. Your friend's email. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the central nervous system can also cause nervous system problems. Damage to the … Chemotherapy can be more toxic to brain cells than to cancer cells and may cause brain damage November 29, 2006 Drugs used to treat cancer may damage normal, healthy brain cells more than the cancer cells they are meant to target. But cancer doctors are aware of this. Cognitive changes mean changes in memory, concentration and the way a person is able to think. Peripheral nerves are located outside the brain and serve as a communication relay between the brain and the rest of body. Here's a list of many of the common side effects, but it's unlikely you'll have all of these. Brain metastases cause severe brain damage that can be inhibited by treatment. Some chemotherapy drugs can damage nerve cells in your brain. But it also has a secret side effect that most people have never heard of: chemo-induced brain damage. "I have many patients who are struggling with these symptoms who've never had chemo." A tumor or cancer cells in the brain can injure healthy cells and can cause cognitive changes. Chemotherapy Can Inadvertently Encourage Cancer Growth. Answer From Joerg Herrmann, M.D. It's difficult to predict what side effects you'll get. Brain and spinal cord tumours can cause nervous system problems as the tumours grow larger. Certain treatments may damage and affect the functioning of the heart, kidneys, bladder, or liver. Can chemotherapy damage your brain? Heart problems can also happen with newer targeted therapy drugs and with radiation therapy. One notable example is heart damage following treatment with Adriamycin (doxorubicin).With this drug, a possible long-term side effect is weakening of the heart muscle, resulting in a decreased ability to pump blood through the body (heart failure). You will have tests before and during your treatment so your doctor can keep an eye on your reaction to the drug. Nerve damage. Upregulation of these genes can overcome the DNA damage and prevent the induction of apoptosis. Chemo brain is often described as feelings of not remembering things, feeling vague or having trouble concentrating. Tiredness . As most chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells in this manner, defective apoptosis allows survival of these cells, making them resistant. Chemotherapy drugs may cause problems with memory, or make it difficult to concentrate or think clearly. Print E-Mail. These could all cause chemo brain symptoms. In addition, some treatments for blood cancer can damage sex organs and impact a person’s fertility, or the ability to have children. Brain tumor, breast cancer, colon cancer, congenital heart disease, ... Can chemotherapy increase the risk of heart problems? Your name. Sometimes, a doctor may be able to predict what symptoms a person may have based on the area of the brain … nycjones. Brain damage can cause personality changes as well as physical symptoms. Doctors may call it mild cognitive impairment. Chemotherapy can cause hearing loss The post-chemotherapy quality of life is important for cancer patients. There doesn't seem to be any one treatment or drug that impacts the likelihood of getting chemo brain. Reported side-effects from chemotherapy vary between each person, however patients who have undergone chemotherapy treatment often tell their treating specialists they are having problems with their memory and complain of a “foggy head”. While side effects can be unpleasant, they must be weighed against the need to kill the cancer cells. Another study on chemotherapy and brain damage had a different conclusion. "Chemo brain is actually not a great term for this," says Dr. Asher. Many chemotherapy drugs also cause DNA damage, which can be repaired by enzymes in the cell that carry out DNA repair. Ask your doctor if the chemo drugs you’re getting have long-term effects. Others, however, noted that the postmortem brain samples involved relatively few subjects, all of them young, and that the mice studies involved only methotrexate. Chemo patients often take other drugs to treat chemo side effects. Share. She goes to her doctor for yearly (?) Chemo Can Cause Long-Term Immune System Damage May 8, 2017 | Author: Susan Silberstein, PhD A study published last year in Breast Cancer Research confirmed something that I had long suspected: namely, that, in addition to suppressing immunity during cancer treatment, chemotherapy can actually cause long-term damage to the immune system after treatment is over. However, they can also damage some of the surrounding healthy cells either by direct administration or by impacting the brain indirectly. Chemotherapy drugs can damage the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. follow ups and describes what symptoms she … New attention is being paid to one common side-effect, hearing loss. Is this true?" She had both breast removed and reconstructed and underwent the regualar Chemo and radiation. Report Abuse User's Response donna faulkner's Response. It's unclear what causes chemo brain, says Dr. Asher. Learn more. Chemotherapy drugs have the greatest effect on rapidly dividing cells, such as blood cells in the Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are treatments that are used to remove or destroy cancer cells. Written by Catharine Paddock, Ph.D. on August 7, 2012. Some neurologists called it a “brilliant” and “exciting” advance in understanding the underlying neural mechanisms by which chemotherapy may cause so-called chemo fog or chemo brain. There may be some chemotherapy drugs your doctor won't use if you have a heart condition. If you are over the age of 65 years, or have an altered immune system due to chemotherapy, chronic disease or steroid use, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that you receive a flu vaccine every year, and a pneumonia vaccine every 5 years. 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