1. Changes in Brain Functional and Effective Connectivity After Treatment for Breast Cancer and Implications for Intervention Targets
- Author
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Sarah Medick, Lorie Kmetz, Kevin R. Krull, Shelli R. Kesler, Vikram Rao, Nicholas S. Phillips, and Ruben D Vela
- Subjects
Oncology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Breast Neoplasms ,Breast cancer ,Internal medicine ,Survivorship curve ,Intervention (counseling) ,Neural Pathways ,medicine ,Humans ,Prospective Studies ,Cognitive impairment ,Brain Mapping ,business.industry ,General Neuroscience ,Cancer ,Brain ,Cognition ,Bayes Theorem ,Original Articles ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Connectome ,Female ,business ,After treatment - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Patients with breast cancer frequently report cognitive impairment both during and after completion of therapy. Evidence suggests that cancer-related cognitive impairments are related to widespread neural network dysfunction. The default mode network (DMN) is a large conserved network that plays a critical role in integrating the functions of various neural systems. Disruption of the network may play a key role in the development of cognitive impairment. METHODS: We compared neuroimaging and neurocognitive data from 43 newly diagnosed primary breast cancer patients (mean age = 48, standard deviation [SD] = 8.9 years) and 50 frequency-matched healthy female controls (mean age = 50, SD = 10 years) before treatment and 1 year after treatment completion. Functional and effective connectivity measures of the DMN were obtained using graph theory and Bayesian network analysis methods, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with healthy females, the breast cancer group displayed higher global efficiency and path length post-treatment (p
- Published
- 2023