Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: effects on cerebral white matter seen in diffusion tensor imaging.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on normal-appearing white matter in women with breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Ten patients with early-stage breast cancer who were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and 9 age-, education-, and IQ-matched healthy controls were studied with magnetic resonance imaging. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to calculate fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter integrity. Measurements were made in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum. Participants also completed measures of processing speed, depression, and anxiety.

Results: Relative to controls, patients had slower processing speed and lower FA in the genu. Processing speed was positively correlated with FA in the genu.

Conclusion: The results of this pilot study suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy affects normal-appearing white matter in the genu of the corpus callosum and that this is related to the cognitive deficits experienced by patients.