{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-cognitive-toxicity-programme","kind":"idea","name":"Measure and treat chemo brain with objective digital cognitive testing","aka":[],"tldr":"Many people report thinking and memory problems after cancer treatment. Measure it properly with short phone-based tests and run trials of treatments.","summary":"Cancer-related cognitive impairment is common, under-recognised and lacks validated treatments; assessment relies on lengthy neuropsychological batteries. Smartphone-based cognitive tests can capture trajectories cheaply. The proposal is a programme pairing digital cognitive monitoring in trials and clinics with a platform trial of interventions (exercise, cognitive rehabilitation, methylphenidate, memantine, sleep interventions) and biological correlates (inflammatory markers, imaging).","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued): Di Maio et al., Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting (JCO 2015)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2014.57.9334"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["rejuvenation"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-toxicity-qol","b-survivorship"],"keyPapers":["paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Digital testing detects clinically meaningful cognitive decline in at least a quarter of patients on common regimens, and at least one intervention improves objective and patient-reported cognition at six months.","rationale":"Measurement is the bottleneck; once cognition is routinely measured it becomes a target for drugs and dosing decisions, as fatigue and nausea did.","test":"Embed digital cognitive testing in three cooperative-group trials; run a four-arm intervention platform in survivors with measured impairment.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"research","cost":"medium","horizonYears":4},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-cognitive-toxicity-programme/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"rejuvenation","kind":"section","name":"Recovery & Rejuvenation","route":"/fronts/rejuvenation/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-survivorship","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Survivorship and late effects are neglected","route":"/bottlenecks/b-survivorship/"},{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting in three randomized trials","route":"/key-papers/paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cognitive-impairment-after-cancer-treatment","kind":"technology","name":"Thinking and memory after cancer treatment: what is measurable, and what helps","route":"/technologies/cognitive-impairment-after-cancer-treatment/"}]}}