London: Commonly used chemotherapy toxins can impair the childhood cancer survivors' eye motor skills -- the eyes' ability to follow moving objects, new research has found.
"We observed that most of these patients were not able to move their eyes smoothly and steadily, but jerkily and fitfully," said one of the researchers Per-Anders Fransson from Lund University in Sweden.
"Eye movement like that makes it harder to focus on moving objects in traffic, for instance. It can also cause headaches and dizziness," Fransson noted.
The study included 23 childhood cancer survivors aged of 20 to 30, and compared them to 25 healthy people of the same age.
Only a few in the first group experienced no visual disorders, headaches and dizziness.
The degree of the problem appeared to be related to the degree of which the eye motor skills had been affected, which suggests damage to the central nervous system from the chemotherapy.
It has been previously known that cisplatin, methotrexate, and ifosfamide -- the types of chemo which the participants of the study had been treated with -- can penetrate the so-called blood-brain barrier, and thereby damage the nervous system.
What has not been known, however, is whether the eye motor skills could be affected, and the consequences of that.
The researchers found that almost 15 years after the patients underwent cancer treatment, majority of them are still suffering the effects of their treatment.
Age, at the time of treatment, appears to play an important role: those who were youngest at the time of treatment were the most affected, the study said.
"A child's brain has not completely developed, which makes it more susceptible to the influence of foreign substances," Thomas Wiebe from Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"We observed that most of these patients were not able to move their eyes smoothly and steadily, but jerkily and fitfully," said one of the researchers Per-Anders Fransson from Lund University in Sweden.
"Eye movement like that makes it harder to focus on moving objects in traffic, for instance. It can also cause headaches and dizziness," Fransson noted.
Only a few in the first group experienced no visual disorders, headaches and dizziness.
Advertisement
It has been previously known that cisplatin, methotrexate, and ifosfamide -- the types of chemo which the participants of the study had been treated with -- can penetrate the so-called blood-brain barrier, and thereby damage the nervous system.
Advertisement
The researchers found that almost 15 years after the patients underwent cancer treatment, majority of them are still suffering the effects of their treatment.
Advertisement
"A child's brain has not completely developed, which makes it more susceptible to the influence of foreign substances," Thomas Wiebe from Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
What Italy's New 'Right To Be Forgotten' Bill Means For Cancer Patients Cancer Survivor Chhavi Mittal Shares New Diagnosis: "This Too Shall Pass" Video Of Pilot Giving Heartwarming Welcome To A Woman Who Beat Breast Cancer Is Winning The Internet Life On Earth Originates From One Ancestor, Older Than Previously Believed Siddaramaiah's Swipe At Governor Amid Calls For Resignation: 10 Points Kolkata Rape-Murder: Fractures, 150 mg Semen, Other Claims Denied By Cops Widows Living In UP Shelter Homes Send Handmade Rakhis To PM Modi Watch: Russian Woman Travels In Mumbai Local Train, Chats With Passengers Germany To Cut Down Military Aid For Ukraine In 2025: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.