雙語(yǔ)研究：化療可引起乳腺癌患者腦損傷(圖)

　　Chemotherapy could cause brain damage in breast cancer patients scientists have warned.

　　A groundbreaking study discovered that breast cancer patients who had undergone the treatment - which uses medicine to kill cancerous cells - had significantly less activity in parts of the brain responsible for memory and planning compared to those who were not treated.

　　Researchers from Stanford University believe the findings could explain the phenomenon “chemo brain” - a term used to describe foggy thinking and memory lapses following chemotherapy sessions.

　　The study involved 25 breast cancer patients who had been treated with chemotherapy, 19 breast cancer patients who had surgery and other treatments, and 18 healthy women.

　　All were asked to perform a card-sorting task, involving problem-solving skills while their brain activity was monitored through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

　　Each participant was also asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their own cognitive abilities.

　　The 25 patients who had been treated with chemotherapy, made more errors on the task and the scans revealed reduced activity in parts of the brain responsible for working memory, cognitive control, monitoring and planning.

　　Lead author Shelli Kesler said: “This shows that when a patient reports she's struggling with these types of problems, there's a good chance there has been a brain change.”

　　The study, published in the Archives of Neurology supports previous findings, and cancer patients have long complained of neurological side effects such as short-term memory loss and, in extreme cases, vision loss, and even dementia following chemotherapy.

　　據(jù)英國(guó)《每日郵報(bào)》11月15日?qǐng)?bào)道，科學(xué)家們警告，化療可能會(huì)引起乳腺癌患者大腦損傷。

　　一項(xiàng)突破性的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，和未曾使用藥物治療的乳腺癌患者相比，那些使用過此療法的癌患大腦中記憶和規(guī)劃的腦部活動(dòng)水平明顯降低。

　　來自美國(guó)斯坦福大學(xué)的研究人員認(rèn)為這一發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠解釋“化療腦”現(xiàn)象。“化療腦”是指病人在接受化療之后出現(xiàn)的思維不清和記憶衰退癥狀。

　　該研究的參與對(duì)象包括25名曾接受過化療的乳腺癌患者、19名接受過外科手術(shù)或其他療法的乳腺癌患者，以及18名健康女性。

　　所有的參與者被要求完成一項(xiàng)涉及到問題解決技能的卡片分類任務(wù)，在完成任務(wù)的同時(shí)，研究人員通過磁共振成象來監(jiān)測(cè)他們的大腦活動(dòng)。

　　每位參與者還被要求完成一份評(píng)估自我認(rèn)知能力的調(diào)查問卷。

　　研究結(jié)果顯示出曾經(jīng)有過化療史的那25位癌患在完成任務(wù)時(shí)的出錯(cuò)更頻繁。掃描結(jié)果也顯示出他們大腦中負(fù)責(zé)工作記憶、認(rèn)知控制、檢查以及規(guī)劃的腦部活動(dòng)水平降低。

　　研究論文的主要作者雪莉-凱斯勒說：“該研究結(jié)果顯示，當(dāng)病人報(bào)告說正掙扎在這些類型的問題時(shí)，她的大腦很有可能已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)了變化?！?/p>

　　發(fā)表在《神經(jīng)學(xué)文獻(xiàn)上》的這一研究，支持了先前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)。化療會(huì)對(duì)癌患的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)造成一些副作用，如短暫失憶，極個(gè)別情況下會(huì)出現(xiàn)視力下降，甚至癡呆。