title: Altered resting state functional brain network topology in chemotherapy-treated breast cancer survivors.
abstract: Many women with breast cancer, especially those treated with chemotherapy, experience cognitive decline due in part to neurotoxic brain injury. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest widespread brain structural abnormalities pointing to disruption of large-scale brain networks. We applied resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging and graph theoretical analysis to examine the connectome in breast cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy relative to healthy comparison women. Compared to healthy females, the breast cancer group displayed altered global brain network organization characterized by significantly decreased global clustering as well as disrupted regional network characteristics in frontal, striatal and temporal areas. Breast cancer survivors also showed significantly increased self-report of executive function and memory difficulties compared to healthy females. These results suggest that topological organization of both global and regional brain network properties may be disrupted following breast cancer and chemotherapy. This pattern of altered network organization is believed to result in reduced efficiency of parallel information transfer. This is the first report of alterations in large-scale functional brain networks in this population and contributes novel information regarding the neurobiologic mechanisms underlying breast cancer-related cognitive impairment.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Bruno
authors: S M Hadi
authors: SM
authors: Hosseini
authors: Shelli
authors: S
authors: Kesler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D063132:Connectome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017741:Survivors
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents