Vega Jennifer N, Newhouse Paul A, Conley Alexander C, Szymkowicz Sarah M, Gong Xuewen, Cote Sarah, Mayer Ingrid, Taylor Warren D, Morimoto Sarah Shizuko
Center for Cognitive Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Health System, Nashville, TN, USA.
Digit Health. 2023 Aug 13;9:20552076231192754. doi: 10.1177/20552076231192754. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.
Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) is a distressing and increasingly recognized long-term sequela reported by breast cancer patients following cancer treatment. There is an urgent but unmet clinical need for treatments that improve CRCI. In this context, we proposed the use of a novel cognitive enhancement strategy called Neuroflex to target CRCI experienced by breast cancer survivors.
The primary aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Neuroflex, a novel digital cognitive enhancement strategy, in breast and gynecologic cancer survivors with CRCI. Secondary analyses focused on whether improvements in performance on Neuroflex were associated with improvement in subjective cognitive complaints and objective cognitive performance measures.
Participants ( = 21) completed an average of 7.42 hours of Neuroflex training per week, an average of 44.5 (±1.01) hours total, and had a 100% completion rate. Participants exhibited significant improvement in self-reported cognitive function as well as significant improvement on tasks of verbal learning and memory and auditory working memory. Participants also exhibited improvement in mood, as well as improvement on a disability assessment.
Results demonstrate feasibility and that breast cancer survivors are capable of completing a lengthy and challenging cognitive training program. Secondly, Neuroflex may confer specific cognitive benefits to both self-reported and objective performance. Results strongly support further investigation of Neuroflex in a larger controlled trial to establish efficacy for CRCI symptoms. Further studies may also result in optimization of this digital intervention for women with CRCI.
化疗相关认知障碍（CRCI）是乳腺癌患者在癌症治疗后报告的一种令人痛苦且日益受到认可的长期后遗症。对于改善CRCI的治疗方法，临床存在迫切但未得到满足的需求。在此背景下，我们提出使用一种名为Neuroflex的新型认知增强策略来针对乳腺癌幸存者所经历的CRCI。
这项初步研究的主要目的是评估Neuroflex（一种新型数字认知增强策略）在患有CRCI的乳腺癌和妇科癌症幸存者中的可行性和可接受性。次要分析集中于Neuroflex表现的改善是否与主观认知主诉和客观认知表现指标的改善相关。
参与者（n = 21）平均每周完成7.42小时的Neuroflex训练，总计平均44.5（±1.01）小时，完成率为100%。参与者在自我报告的认知功能方面有显著改善，在言语学习和记忆任务以及听觉工作记忆方面也有显著改善。参与者的情绪也有所改善，残疾评估方面也有改善。
结果证明了可行性，且乳腺癌幸存者有能力完成一个漫长且具有挑战性的认知训练项目。其次，Neuroflex可能在自我报告和客观表现方面带来特定的认知益处。结果强烈支持在更大规模的对照试验中进一步研究Neuroflex以确定其对CRCI症状的疗效。进一步的研究也可能会优化针对CRCI女性的这种数字干预措施。
