Cognitive impairment induced by systemic oncological treatments in nonme- tastatic breast cancer: a review

Abstract

Breast cancer women complain of cognitive problems after systemic oncological treatments. This has lead to study the effect of these treatments on the cognitive functioning of these patients. Aims and Method: To expose the conclusions obtained about cognitive impairment induced by systemic oncological treatments in breast cancer after reviewing available literature. Results: 24 studies on cognitive impairment associated to chemotherapy and 5 studies on the cognitive impairment associated to hormone therapy have been found. Chemotherapy studies find a subtle and specific cognitive impairment in a variable percentage of patients. Hormone therapy studies do not agree about its negative or neuroproctetive effect. Conclusions: 1) New studies that overcome the methodological limitations of previous studies are needed, and also more variables need to be assessed; 2) Importance to introduce neuroimaging techniques; 3) Importance of the cognitive complaints verbalized by patients; 4) Development of cognitive rehabilitation programmes to alleviate the cognitive deficits.