Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

BACKGROUND Breast cancer patients may experience cognitive difficulties after chemotherapy.
PURPOSE To investigate whether an exercise intervention can affect cerebral blood flow (CBF) in breast cancer patients and if CBF changes relate to memory function.
STUDY TYPE Prospective.
POPULATION Chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients with cognitive problems, and with relatively low physical activity levels were randomized to an exercise intervention (n=91) or control group (n=90).
FIELDSTRENGTH/SEQUENCE A 3-T arterial spin labeling CBF scan was performed.
ASSESSMENT The 6-month intervention consisted of (supervised) aerobic and strength training, 4x1 hour/week. Measurements at baseline (2-4 years post-diagnosis) and after six months included the arterial spin labeling CBF scan, from which we calculated gray matter CBF in the whole brain, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, we measured physical fitness and memory functioning.
STATISTICAL TESTS Multiple regression analyses with a two-sided alpha of 0.05 for all analyses.
RESULTS We observed significant improvement in physical fitness (VO2peak) in the intervention group (n=53) compared to controls (n=51, B1.47, 95%CI:0.44; 2.50), nevertheless no intervention effects on CBF were found (e.g. whole brain: B0.98, 95%CI:-2.38; 4.34). Highly fatigued patients showed larger, but not significant, treatment effects. Additionally, change in physical fitness, from baseline to post-intervention, was positively associated with changes in CBF (e.g., whole brain: B0.75, 95%CI:0.07; 1.43). However, we observed no relation between CBF changes and change in memory performance.
DATA CONCLUSION The exercise intervention did not affect CBF of cognitively affected breast cancer patients. However, a change in physical fitness was related to a change in CBF, but a change in CBF was not associated with memory functioning.