Jeremy Moreau1,
Arturo Cardenas-Blanco2, Santanu Chakraborty2, Mark E.
Schweitzer2, Carole Scherling3, Joyce Mackenzie,
Barbara Collins4, Andra Smith1
1School
of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 2Diagnostic
Imaging, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 3Memory and
aging center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA,
United States; 4Neuropsychology, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada
Chemotherapy used in the treatment of breast cancer has been associated with damage to myelin. Hence investigating white matter changes in breast cancer patients following chemotherapy could aid in the understanding of chemotherapy related cognitive impairment. this study we assesses FA in a group of breast cancer patients prior to and at two time points following chemotherapy treatment. The results suggests: i) Quantitative DTI biomarkers are sensitive to detect structural changes induced by chemotherapy ii) chemotherapy impacts white matter in important areas of the brain. iii) Alterations, detected as changes in FA, recover 1 year post-chemotherapy to near pre-chemotherapy levels.
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