Hippocampal volume reduction after chemotherapy assessed by brain MRI: a cause of chemobrain in cancer patients

Purpose:cancer treatment (chemotherapy) affects various neural parts of the brain which results in cognitive impairments as problems in working memory, concentration, speed of processing and responding, and speech. this condition is called “chemobrain”. the aim of this study is to establish whether any change exists in the volume of certain brain parts before and after chemotherapy that might play a role in chemobrain by means of magnetic resonance imaging (mri). materials and methods: eleven patients with various cancers underwent cranial mri before and after chemotherapy. 3-dimensional reconstruction from coronal 2 dimensional images were obtained by surfdriver program. volume calculations of cerebrum, cerebellum, ventricles, right and left hippocampus were done by cavalieri method. results:according to measurements there was a statistically significant difference only in the volumes of right and left hippocampus before and after chemotherapy (p<0.05). the volumes of the hippocampus on both sides decreased after chemotherapy. conclusion:this study revealed significant volume changes in the hippocampus of cancer patients after chemotherapy. we suggest that this volume reduction in hippocampal regions might be the explanation of chemobrain seen in cancer patient during and after chemotherapy.