MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner signs off

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

American Society of Clinical Oncology released a study

 last week suggesting the number of cancer cases will increase in the next 16 years. The study also noted the number of survivors will increase too. 

One of the effects of treatment is known as "chemo brain," or mild cognitive impairment. This happens when chemotherapy patients experience fogginess or difficulty with cognitive tasks that were once easy for them. 

"While I was going through chemotherapy, the phrase 'mild cognitive impairment' did not pertain to the stupefaction I experienced at forgetting a close friend's name," 

. "I found myself bewildered about what task had led me to my university office and then lost on the way home. I had to enact a convoluted guessing game to get my husband to provide the word 'egg.' On more than one occasion, it became apparent that one of my daughters was confiding in me, but about what?"

Just as you'd do follow-up physical therapy for a hip replacement, you can do follow-up therapy for chemotherapy treatment and manage the symptoms that alter a patient's daily life. 

On The Daily Circuit, we discuss some of the symptoms of chemo brain and the latest research on therapies to improve the lives of cancer survivors.

Health

We discuss some of the symptoms of "chemo brain" and the latest research on therapies to improve the lives of cancer survivors.

When cancer treatment causes 'chemo brain'

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox