A Prospective, Longitudinal Study to Examine Time-Dependent Neurocognitive Changes in Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Patients with cancer often complain that their “mind does not seem to be clear.” This can be due to stress, depression or anxiety, or physical problems caused by the cancer or the treatments used to control symptoms. The purpose of this study is to learn about the effects of chemotherapy on the brain and to identify useful tools to detect these effects.

Participants will include women with breast cancer who are receiving chemotherapy as well as a comparison group of healthy controls. The results of this study may stimulate new research to learn how to treat symptoms more effectively and to improve patients’ quality of life.

Participants will be asked to complete a series of activities that help researchers learn how they think and how they problem solve. These activities involve memory, language, and other mental abilities such as attention and concentration. About four months later, there will be a second series of tests.

Some participants will be asked to undergo a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. This imaging test shows which part of the brain is activated by different types of activities such as sight, sound, or movement of fingers. During the fMRI, they will be asked to complete two more tasks.