Side effects of Cancer Therapy: Chemobrain: Mechanisms & Assessments

University Of Kentucky, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer therapy-induced injury to normal tissue is a major side effect experienced by cancer patients and is, unfortunately, an understudied area. The number of cancer survivors now exceeds 11 million in the US alone and the total number of survivors worldwide is constantly increasing. The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center Conference on the Side Effects of Cancer Therapy:Chemobrain: Mechanisms &Assessments will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, during October 12-14, 2011, and will include an opening session with cancer survivors. Two prominent scientists in the area of cognition and memory, Larry Squire from UCSD and James McGaugh from UC Irvine, have agreed to be keynote speakers. The conference is sponsored by the Markey Cancer Center and is an international symposium bringing together a community of scientists, physicians, nurses, health care professionals, physicians and scientists-in-training in the area of clinical oncology. The objectives of the meeting are to coordinate, exchange, and disseminate information and to explore potential intervention. The focus will be the mechanisms of neuronal injury resulting from anticancer chemotherapeutic agents not directly targeting the brain, strategies for assessments, intervention strategies, and possible translation from basic studies into clinical practice. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Cancer therapy-induced normal tissue injury is a major side effect experienced by cancer patients and is an understudied area. The number of cancer survivors now exceeds 11 million in the US alone. As such, the need to provide health care that supports a high quality of life after cancer treatment has become a new health care challenge, and injury to noncancerous tissue is in need of special attention. The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center Conference on Side Effects of Cancer Therapy: Chemobrain: Mechanisms &Assessments is a very timely and important topic for the benefit of patients. The conference will be held in Lexington, Kentucky during October 12-14, 2011, and will include an opening session with cancer survivors. The conference is an international symposium bringing together a community of clinicians and scientists in the area of cancer research and chemotherapy. The goals of the conference are to coordinate, exchange, and disseminate information and to explore novel strategies to diagnose and to prevent or minimize the neurological problems associated with chemotherapeutic drugs not directly targeting the brain.