Healthcare professionals perform chemotherapy to treat people with several cancers. But many cancer survivors of breast cancer usually have memory and thinking problems after this treatment. These problems are known as cancer-related impairment. Researchers from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine tried to check whether the donepezil drug works effectively for treating these issues. This drug is prescribed to treat dementia and it improves cognitive functions. Â
This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and focused breast cancer survivors. In this study, researchers involved 276 breast cancer survivors. These participants were from community oncology practices that are part of the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). These participants had taken four cycles of chemotherapy and had reported memory and thinking related problems. Â
In this study, researchers divided these 276 participants into two groups such as the donepezil group and the placebo group. The donepezil group consisted of 140 participants who took the donepezil drug. On the other hand, the placebo group consisted of 136 participants who took the placebo drug. They took these drugs once a day for 24 weeks. Researchers checked their thinking ability and memory before treatment at 12 weeks and at the end of the 24 weeks.Â
When researchers observed the collected data carefully, they found that donepezil drug did not improve cognitive damage caused by chemotherapy in these breast cancer survivors. These participants who took the donepezil drug did not do well in the tests of memory, other cognitive functions and subjective functioning. Â
One of the researchers said that the results of this study show that the donepezil drug does not effectively improve cognitive function. But still there is a need for further research. Donepezil drug did not work effectively and help breast cancer survivors who had memory and thinking related problems. But researchers think that more research is needed to find new treatments to treat these people with brain issues. Healthcare professionals should consider this study and make some effective strategies to treat them. Â
Reference Link:Â
Stephen R. Rapp et al, Phase III Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Donepezil for Treatment of Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer Survivors After Adjuvant Chemotherapy (WF-97116), Journal of Clinical Oncology (2024).Â
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