A decline in memory and the fine-motor skills is common among patients undergoing a bone marrow or transplant of stem cells for the treatment of leukemia and Lymphoma, but most patients return to normal within five years, a new study.
Previous research has shown that chemotherapy drugs these patients take front of transplantation and the medications they take to prevent the rejection of the transplanted cells can affect memory and motor skills. This study was carried on how long it takes to recover from these problems, often referred to as "chemo brain."
The study included 92 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, acute leukemia, lymphoma syndrome or Myelodysplastic, in which the bone marrow does not normally occur. Patients received a (cells donated by someone else) allogeneic bone marrow or stem cell transplantation.
After treatment, the skills of memory and motor of the patients were evaluated. Most of the patients showed a substantial improvement in the neurocognitive function between one and five years after their transplant.
But deficits, described as mainly soft, persisted for five years in 42% of patients, a finding that surprised researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
"We really thought the rate would be lower," study leader Karen Syrjala, Director of the Biobehavioral Sciences, said in a press release Hutchinson. "We were delighted to see that challenged substantially, but we were also surprised that so many people continue to have measurable deficits in some areas even after five years."
Further research is needed to determine the reasons for these persistent deficits, she added.
The study was published in May 2 online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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