Chemotherapy is critically important to eradicating pediatric leukemia, but treatment can cause lingering brain impairment and hamper crucial cognitive development.
In order to better understand children at risk for these lasting neurological symptoms—commonly known as "chemo brain"—the National Institutes of Health has awarded a $4.6 million grant to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York, and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
“While the phenomenon of ‘chemo brain’ is widely acknowledged, we don’t know enough about how it affects children’s brain development—and how significant and long-lasting the effects are,” said lead investigator Elyse Sussman, PhD, with New York-based Einstein’s Department of Neuroscience. “Our study will investigate how chemotherapy disrupts sensory processing, memory, and attention in children; where in the brain the damage is occurring, and whether there is a biomarker that can identify those who are most vulnerable.”
As part of the new four year project, the researchers will study 240 children between 5 and 12 years old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common cancer among young patients in the U.S. In addition to looking over electrical activity within participants’ brains during hearing and cognitive tests, Sussman et al. pinpoint the exact location of brain activity on functional MRI scans during attention, memory and other assessments.
After 12 months, the teams will repeat these tests in hopes of identifying abnormal patterns of “neuroconnectivity” and to better understand how cognitive skills were affected.
It’s the first study of its kind, Sussman and colleagues noted, and should go a long way toward personalizing pediatric cancer care.
“Once we find out what is involved in the cognitive dysfunction caused by chemotherapy, we hope to develop treatment strategies to protect the most vulnerable children,” Sussman concluded in a statement.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.