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Cancer drugs harmful to brain cells
The Mercury
2007-02-01

Common cancer drugs may be more harmful to the brain than the tumour cells they are meant to destroy.

Laboratory tests have shown that dose levels typically used when treating patients killed 70-100% of neural cells, but just 40-80% of cancer cells. Several types of healthy brain cells continued to die for at least six weeks after exposure.

The findings, published in the Journal of Biology, may help explain the little understood cancer therapy side effect of "chemo brain".

Patients can suffer symptoms ranging from memory loss to seizures, loss of vision and even dementia. Until recently, these problems were often blamed on a patient's mental state.

However, a growing body of evidence is now leading doctors to accept the reality of "chemo brain".

A study this year suggested that more than 82% of cancer patients may suffer some form of mental impairment. While scientists have suspected chemotherapy could have an impact on the central nervous system, it was not clear how this might occur. - The Independent

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