MedTrace Logo

Chemotherapy Induced Cognitive Impairment

NCT05740787 · Status: RECRUITING · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 50

Last updated 2026-05-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Chemotherapy is toxic and challenges everyone differently. Most chemotherapy side-effects are known and well documented. However, the phenomenon of "chemo fog" also known as "chemobrain" has not been fully investigated and is often based on comments of breast cancer patients attending outpatient clinics during and after their chemotherapy. Changes in thinking ability like lack of concentration, loss of memory and the inability to hold a thought or even a conversation has a significant impact on the lives of breast cancer patients. Without understanding what "chemobrain" is, and what causes it, there is little that doctors can do to help at the moment.

The team proposing this study believe that chemotherapy causes chemicals associated with inflammation to attack parts of the brain that are important for concentration and making new memories. Unfortunately, it is not possible to measure these chemicals directly in the brain, but we believe that a brain scan sensitive to excess iron, a marker of brain inflammation, can help. This project will measure thinking ability, such as memory and concentration, take a blood sample and do a brain scan before, during and after a patient has chemotherapy. We will then look for changes in iron in the brain areas that are important for concentration and memory and compare those to changes in thinking ability and to levels of inflammation chemicals in the blood. This information will be essential to help plan our next step which is to test ways to reduce the effects of "chemobrain".

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

No intervention

Observation only

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • NHS Grampian

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • University of Aberdeen

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-12-15
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05740787 on ClinicalTrials.gov