The effect of using adjuvant aromatase inhibitors on cognitive functions in breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. After using aromatase inhibitors (AI) in adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, a significant increase of survival rates has been observed. Because of aromatase inhibitors are used long term in adjuvant therapy side effects are also very important. It is considered that AI's may affect cognitive functions by decreasing the level of estrogen in the brain. The purpose of our study is that evaluate the relationship between duration of treatment and cognitive functions in patients with breast cancer who use AI's in adjuvant therapy. Patients diagnosed with breast cancer who use aromatase inhibitors as adjuvant treatment and followed up at the Akdeniz University Medical Faculty were included. The patients were surveyed for demographic characteristics. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMT) tests were applied to patients to evaluate their cognitive functions. The total scores of the tests and the orientation, short-time memory, visuospatial functions, attention, language, executive functions which are the MoCA subscales were evaluated separately. Patients were grouped as 0-6, 6-12, 12-24, 24-36, 36 and more months according to the duration of aromatase inhibitors using time. 200 patient's data were analyzed. At the end of our study, the total MoCA and SMMT scores were affected by factors such as age, education level, and employment status. There was no relationship between duration of treatment and cognitive functions in patients with breast cancer who use aromatase inhibitors in adjuvant therapy (p>0.05). In addition, no statistically relationship was found in the evaluation of MoCA subscales (p>0.05). As a result, adjuvant treatment with AI's does not affect cognitive functions in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients. Key Words: Aromatase Inhibitors, Breast Cancer, Cognitive Functions