NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING FOLLOWING CHEMOTHERAPY FOR BREAST-CANCER

Cancer patients' complaints of impaired cognition following chemothera py are fairly common bur poorly documented among adult patients. Neuro psychological testing was used to evaluate current cognitive functioni ng of 28 stage I and II breast cancer patients (ages 28-54) who had co mpleted 3 to 18 months of adjuvant chemotherapy, from 0.5 to 12 months prior to testing. Effects of drug regimen, length of treatment and le vel of depression on cognitive functioning were examined. Despite esti mated high-normal pre-morbid intelligence (mean FSIQ 113) patients sco red significantly below age-, education-, and gender-corrected test no rms in areas of verbal and visual memory, mental flexibility and speed of processing, attention and concentration, visuospatial ability and motor function. Of patients, 75% scored -2SDs (moderate impairment) on one or more test measures. Level of cognitive impairment was unrelate d to depression, type of chemotherapy and time since treatment, but wa s positively related to length of chemotherapy treatment. These prelim inary findings suggest that cognitive impairment may follow convention al adjuvant chemotherapy treatment and warrant replication with a cont rolled and more rigorous longitudinal design.