Advances in chemotherapy have helped extend the lives of children with cancer. In children with leukemia, which is the most common form of childhood cancer, the overall five-year survival rate after chemotherapy is nearly 80 percent, compared with 40 percent of adults, according to the National Marrow Donor Program. Unfortunately, there is no chemical or radiation cancer therapy that can spare all healthy cells and tissues while destroying cancerous cells. Some types of chemotherapy can leave young patients with short-term or long-term neurological side effects.
Cognitive Problems
Cognitive problems, sometimes called "chemobrain," following chemotherapy for cancer tend to affect children more than adults. Children have a higher incidence of brain tumors than adults and these tumors must be treated more aggressively with higher doses and treatments that may include drugs with radiation, explains the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Neurological damage to the brain may also follow chemotherapy for other cancers. Children receiving chemo for leukemia, for example, may develop problems with memory; verbal, attention and fine motor skills; and confused thinking a few weeks or months after completing chemotherapy. Psychologist Robert Butler, PhD, an associate professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University, says about 30 percent of children develop some cognitive problems after chemotherapy.
According to researchers at Fordham University who tested children’s memory before and after chemotherapy, methotrexate chemotherapy can cause measurable cognitive declines in children ages 6 to 17, one to three days after treatment for leukemia.
Nervous System Toxicity
A report by the Children’s Hospital of Alabama detailed the ways chemotherapy can be toxic to the central nervous system.
Chemotherapy drugs including methotrexate and cyclosporin and those made from platinum compounds may cause nervous system complications in both adults and children. Specific complications include seizures, paralysis, stroke, damage to the nerves in the inner ear, and peripheral neuropathy, which can cause pain and loss of feeling and muscle control.
Impaired Senses
Given in high doses, some forms of chemotherapy can affect peripheral nerves which carry information between the body and the brain, and are responsible for various senses.
Damage to the peripheral nerves can lead to temporary or long-term changes in a child’s senses. The American Society of Clinical Oncology describes changes in the ability to taste and smell, vision loss or blurred or double vision, and hearing loss as possible sensory side effects following chemotherapy.
References
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Childhood cancer survivors may face shortened lifespan, study reveals
- Oncology Times: Childhood Cancer Survivors: Largest Study to Date Assesses Long-Term Effects & Impressions
- Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports: Neurologic complications of chemotherapy for children with cancer
- National Marrow Donor Program: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
- Cancer.net: Nervous System Side Effects
