Dr. Jay K. Harness: Are there certain parts of the neocortex or other areas of the brain
more affected than others?
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Okay what's neocortex?
I am sorry.
Dr. Jay K. Harness: The big two lobes appear on top.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Alright, okay.
Dr. Daniela Bota: Give me a minute because I don't have a brain here.
So you will just see me disappearing for a second.
Dr. Jay K. Harness: Okay, we gotta get a brain.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Okay, she is getting.
Aren't you glad I asked ___________[0:36].
Dr. Daniela Bota: Now, we have the brain.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Wow.
Dr. Daniela Bota: Okay we have a brain.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Okay, here we go, the neocortex.
Now I know.
Dr. Daniela Bota: So what you see in the purple here.
Dr. Jay K. Harness: Pull it back, pull the brain back ___________[0:50].
There you go, ___________ okay good.
Dr. Daniela Bota: So the surface of the brain is what Dr. Harness referred to, which is
the neocortex and the part that most effective by chemotherapy for this part of the brain
are the frontal lobes, which are the first part of the brain.
The ones that are above our nose and this is where your executive function is, planning
your job, planning the party, planning a trip, but ___________ [1:17] also very interested
on and a deep, deep, deep structure on our brain is the hippocampus.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Oh, okay and what's that?
Dr. Daniela Bota: And the hippocampus is the place where our memories are formed and stored,
that's why we have found that that's very important in Alzheimer's disease, in other
memory type of diseases and it's a part that it's very important that by example when we
consider patients for radiation therapy to the brain, we always try not to give radiation
if possible to that part of the brain.
It's a small structure, it looks like a sea horse, that's what hippocampus means, but
it's an essential and sensual control center for our brain and now researching the lab
shows that that's the site of the most damage.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: When a person does receive chemotherapy and they get the chemo
brain, when you mentioned Alzheimer's or even a dementia, does that increase their chances
to get early onset of dementia or Alzheimer's because of this?
Dr. Daniela Bota: What we have found out Lisa is that not necessary that Alzheimer or dementia
will be related to chemotherapy, indeed it is not.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Okay.
Dr. Daniela Bota: But that about 11% of the patients that got chemotherapy are surviving
their cancers, now I am talking 10 to 20 years in the future, have more memory problems and
are getting to the level of being diagnosed with a memory disorder, we share many features
was the most common ones as Alzheimer or multi-vascular dementia and it is not that necessary, there
will be same entity, the same problem, but they do affect the same structures of the
brain, as I was showing you before, the deep structure of the brain and hippocampus.
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: Okay, wow that was interesting.
See you ask a question and look what pops up Dr. Harness' brain.
Dr. Jay K. Harness: I love it.
What a good neurologist, I know does not have a brain, laying around somewhere ___________
[3:29].
Lisa Schneider-Cipriano: I know.
Dr. Daniela Bota: Exactly, Harness, you will always need an extra one.