Study of Chemotherapy Side Effects in Cancer Patients: Non-invasive Optical Measurements of the Brain

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Currently there is no methodology that can assign a risk of development of chemo brain and thus, studies to understand how and why only some patients develop chemo brain along with studies of potential treatments face major hurdles. This study will define hemodynamic/optical parameters in normal individuals and cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy potentially identifying optical parameters that are associated with the development of chemo brain, leading to new insights into the origin of the chemo brain condition, and importantly potentially identifying parameters that may predict who will develop chemo brain in order to directing investigations of therapies.

The researcher can use Non-invasive optical imaging, diffuse optical spectroscopic imaging, measure various tissues and can determine chemo brain symptoms. Near infrared diffuse optical imaging is a real-time, non-invasive technique that measures hemodynamic variations based on changes in hemoglobin oxygenation. Tissue in general and the cerebral cortex surface in particular, are transparent to near infrared light. Direct optical measurement of cerebral hemodynamic parameters is superior to systemic approaches that infer brain levels of hemoglobin. Optical imaging in conjunction with physiologic maneuvers measures vascular tone and reactivity and may permit early detection of changes in physiology that precede the onset of chemo brain symptoms. Since chemo brain specifically impacts working memory and executive function the optical imaging can measure the frontal cortical areas behind the forehead.

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