{"id":10468,"date":"2025-04-11T09:59:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/10468\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T09:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:59:18","slug":"chemotherapy-disrupts-brain-connectivity-neuroscience-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/10468\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemotherapy Disrupts Brain Connectivity &#8211; Neuroscience News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary: <\/strong>New research reveals that chemotherapy can lead to rapid and widespread changes in brain connectivity in breast cancer patients. Using functional MRI scans, scientists observed disruptions in the frontal-limbic system and cerebellar cortex, regions involved in executive function and memory.<\/p>\n<p>These changes intensified and expanded as treatment progressed, suggesting a cumulative impact on brain function. The findings may help explain the cognitive difficulties often experienced during and after chemotherapy, commonly known as \u201cchemo brain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rapid Brain Changes:<\/strong> Chemotherapy quickly alters brain connectivity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Affected Regions:<\/strong> Disruptions were found in areas linked to memory and decision-making.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Progressive Impact:<\/strong> Connectivity changes worsened and spread over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>Wiley<\/p>\n<p><strong>New research published in the\u00a0Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging\u00a0has uncovered changes in brain connectivity during chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the study of 55 patients with breast cancer and 38 controls without cancer, investigators conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of participants\u2019 brains over several months.<\/p>\n<p>  <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/chemo-brain-connectivity-neuroscience.jpg\" alt=\"This shows two heads and brains.\"  \/> These changes got worse and spread more as chemotherapy continued. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p>Scans from patients revealed changes in brain connectivity, particularly in the frontal-limbic system (involved in executive functions) and the cerebellar cortex (linked to memory) throughout the course of treatment.<\/p>\n<p>These changes got worse and spread more as chemotherapy continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings suggest that chemotherapy can quickly disrupt brain function in breast cancer patients, potentially contributing to cognitive issues,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n<p>About this chemotherapy and neurology research news<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/neurosciencenews.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#f7999280848598989ab7809e9b928ed994989a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sara Henning-Stout<\/a><br \/><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wiley.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wiley<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact: <\/strong>Sara Henning-Stout \u2013 Wiley<br \/><strong>Image: <\/strong>The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Original Research: <\/strong>Closed access.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1002\/jmri.29772\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Altered brain functional networks in patients with breast cancer after different cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy<\/a>\u201d by Jing Yang et al. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Altered brain functional networks in patients with breast cancer after different cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Background<\/p>\n<p>Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) impacts breast cancer (BC) patients\u2019 quality of life after chemotherapy. While recent studies have explored its neural correlates, single time-point designs cannot capture how these changes evolve over time.<\/p>\n<p>Purpose<\/p>\n<p>To investigate changes in the brain connectome of BC patients at several time points during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).<\/p>\n<p>Study Type<\/p>\n<p>Longitudinal.<\/p>\n<p>Subjects<\/p>\n<p>55 participants with BC underwent clinical assessments and fMRI at baseline (TP1), the first cycle of NAC (TP2, 30\u2009days later), and the end (TP3, 140\u2009days later). Two matched female healthy control (HCs,\u00a0n\u2009=\u200920 and\u00a0n\u2009=\u200918) groups received the same assessments.<\/p>\n<p>Field Strength\/Sequence<\/p>\n<p>rs-fMRI (gradient-echo EPI) and 3D T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo sequence at 3.0\u2009T.<\/p>\n<p>Assessment<\/p>\n<p>Brain functional networks were analyzed using graph theory approaches. We analyzed changes in brain connectome metrics and explored the relationship between these changes and clinical scales (including emotion and cognitive test).<\/p>\n<p>Patients were divided into subgroups according to clinical classification, chemotherapy regimen, and menopausal status. Longitudinal analysis was performed at three time points for each subgroup.<\/p>\n<p>Statistical Tests<\/p>\n<p>An independent sample\u00a0t-test for patient-HC comparison at TP1. Analysis of variance and paired\u00a0t-test for longitudinal changes. Regression analysis for relations between network measurements changes and clinical symptom scores changes. Significance was defined as\u00a0p\u2009<\/p>\n<p>Results<\/p>\n<p>Post-NAC, BC patients showed increased global efficiency (TP2-TP1\u2009=\u20090.087, TP3-TP1\u2009=\u20090.078), decreased characteristic path length (TP2-TP1\u2009=\u2009\u22120.413, TP3-TP1\u2009=\u2009\u22120.312), and altered nodal centralities mainly in the frontal-limbic system and cerebellar cortex. These abnormalities expanded with chemotherapy progression significantly (TP2 vs. TP3). T<\/p>\n<p>opological parameters changes were also correlated with clinical scales changes significantly. No differences were found within or between HC groups (p\u2009=\u20090.490\u20130.989) or BC subgroups (p\u2009=\u20090.053\u20130.988) at TP1.<\/p>\n<p>Data Conclusions<\/p>\n<p>NAC affects the brain functional connectome of BC patients at TP2, and these changes persist and further intensify at TP3.<\/p>\n<p>Level of Evidence<\/p>\n<p>2.<\/p>\n<p>Technical Efficacy<\/p>\n<p>Stage 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: New research reveals that chemotherapy can lead to rapid and widespread changes in brain connectivity in breast&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7203,2679,215,1204,7204,7205,105,219,233,7206,220,16,15,7207],"class_list":{"0":"post-10468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-brain-cancer","9":"tag-brain-connectivity","10":"tag-brain-research","11":"tag-cancer","12":"tag-chemo-brain","13":"tag-chemotherapy","14":"tag-health","15":"tag-neurobiology","16":"tag-neurology","17":"tag-neuropharmacology","18":"tag-neuroscience","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wiley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114318748085220410","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}