Measurements, mechanisms and potential therapy for preventing chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment

Cognitive impairment following chemotherapy, also called chemobrain, is reducing the life quality of millions of cancer patients. It is urgent to discover therapeutic methods against chemobrain. In fact, neither measurements nor mechanisms are yet to be defined. To discover efficient treatment on chemobrain, in this review, we firstly focus on applications of objective and accurate methods to study the measurement of chemobrain, such as Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Furthermore, we highlight the potential mechanism of chemobrain including neuroinflammation, cell apoptosis and synaptic degeneration. Chemotherapy can induce neuroinflammation and cell apoptosis in brain. Synaptic plasticity also decreased in chemo-agent treated mice. Based on other cognitive impairment diseased, we also engaged in looking for effective treatment on cognitive impairment after chemotherapy in cancer patients. Synaptic repair, stem cell transplantation, Chinese medicine and psychological rehabilitation are all powerful candidates for treating chemobrain.