Mild Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer Patients

This study aims to identify neuroimaging biomarkers for predicting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemo and/or hormonal therapy by examining hippocampal-cortical neurocircuitry. Adjuvant therapies increase long-term survival, but produce changes in cognitive function in 30% (up to 70%) of women on average with breast cancer. Cognitive decline negatively impacts quality of life in patients and their supporters. Therefore, early identification of patients at risk for developing treatment-related cognitive impairment is needed to develop potential prevention or treatment options and prevent further decline. Our recent work demonstrates that patients receiving adjuvant hormonal treatment exhibit decline in cognition as soon as three months post treatment. Although neuroimaging studies have identified brain changes associated with chemotherapy ("chemo brain", no investigation has assessed the type and severity of such changes following hormonal therapy, nor has any study determined which individuals are at greatest risk for cognitive impairment. Our central hypothesis is that measures of the hippocampal-cortical integrity can be used to predict cognitive decline, and changes of specific domains of cognitive performance in patients receiving adjuvant therapy over time will be related to changes in specific components of this circuitry over time.