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RecruitingNCT02290834Updated Jul 16, 2026

Chemotherapy-induced Cognitive and Brain Changes in Older Adults With Breast Cancer

An interventional study of Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments and MRI in Impaired Cognition, Chemo-brain and Breast Cancer, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to female participants aged 60 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-16.

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
200
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
60 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

This research study evaluates the effect of chemotherapy on cognition (thinking) and the brain in people with breast cancer.

Read the detailed description
  • This study is being done to study effects of chemotherapy (cancer treatment) on the brain and cognition (thinking). "Chemo-brain" is a term sometimes used to refer to effects of chemotherapy on the brain and cognition (thinking).
  • This study is being done to test for "chemo-brain" in older adults with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy, and to identify people who are most likely to be affected. The investigators will look at thinking abilities and brain images before and after chemotherapy to see if it can help identify people at risk for cognitive side effects of the treatment, and to better understand effects of treatment on brain structure and function.
  • The investigators are looking for participants who have either been recently recently diagnosed breast cancer participant or a healthy volunteer.
  • What is involved in the study:

    • Memory and Thinking Tests
    • Imaging: Either MRI/or MRI and PET Scans
02

Conditions studied

  • Impaired Cognition
  • Chemo-brain
  • Breast Cancer

Keywords

  • Chemotherapy related cognitive impairment
  • Chemo-brain
03

In context

Cognition Disorders

399 studies on the registry are indexed under Cognition Disorders; 74 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 200 is above the median of 66 across 272 interventional studies indexed under Cognition Disorders.

Browse Cognition Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,586 studies on the registry; 447 are open to participants now.

Of its 222 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 168 (76%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
60 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy- Group 1 (experimental group)

    • Participants must meet the following criteria on screening examination to be eligible to participate in the behavioral +/- imaging components of study
    • New diagnosis confirmed invasive breast cancer
    • Treatment plan to include chemotherapy
    • Female subjects age ≥ 60 years.
    • ≥ 1 year
    • Performance Score (KPS) ≥ 80
    • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written document.
  • Non-treated breast cancer patient controls- Group 2 (control group)

    • Participants must meet the following criteria on screening examination to be eligible to participate in the behavioral +/- imaging components of study:
    • New diagnosis histologically confirmed invasive breast cancer
    • Treatment plan does not include chemotherapy
    • Age ≥ 60 years.
    • Life expectancy ≥ 1 year
    • Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS) ≥ 80
    • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
  • Healthy control subjects- Group 3 (control group)

    • Participants must meet the following criteria on screening examination to be eligible to participate in the behavioral +/- imaging components of study:
    • Age ≥ 60 years.
    • Life expectancy ≥ 1 year
    • Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS) ≥ 80
    • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.
    • Participants with well-controlled vascular risk factors, such as treated hypertension, treated hyperlipidemia or well-controlled Type II diabetes (glucose levels \<250) may be included.
    • Serum Pregnancy Testing: STAT quantitative serum hCG pregnancy testing for all women of . Imaging will not start until and unless the test result returns negative.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants who exhibit any of the following conditions at screening will not be eligible for admission into the study:

    • Participants with clinical or radiographic evidence of CNS disease
    • Subjects with scores below 24
    • Active or history of major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major affective disorder in mid-life, or treatment with ECT (Mild depression that is well treated with stable dose of SSRI antidepressants may be allowed).
    • Substance abuse within the past 2 years
    • Huntington's disease, hydrocephalus or seizure disorder
  • In addition to exclusion criteria above, participants who exhibit any of the following conditions at screening will not be eligible for admission into imaging portion of the study:

    • Participants with to MRI (i.e., implanted metal including pacemakers, cerebral spinal fluid shunts, aneurysm clips, artificial heart valves, ear implants or metal/foreign objects in the eyes and those with a history of claustrophobia), injuries to the eyes with metal without X-ray documentation that metal was removed
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Karnofsky performance status (KPS)

A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.

Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

MMSE and MoCA

Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
200 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    ARM 1

    Breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy * Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments (Pre and Post Treatment) * Imaging (Pre and Post Treatment) * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan / Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan

    Other: Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments · Device: MRI · Radiation: PET Scan

  • Active comparator
    ARM 2

    Non-treated breast cancer patient control * Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments (Post enrollment and 6-14 months later * Imaging (Post Enrollment and at 8-14 months later) * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan / Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan

    Other: Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments · Device: MRI · Radiation: PET Scan

  • Active comparator
    ARM 3

    Healthy control subjects * Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments (Post enrollment and 6-14 months later * Imaging (Post Enrollment and at 8-14 months later) * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan * Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan / Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan

    Other: Cognitive, functional and subjective assessments · Device: MRI · Radiation: PET Scan

Interventions

  • OtherCognitive, functional and subjective assessments

    Cognitive and functional assessments

  • DeviceMRI

    Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan

  • RadiationPET Scan

    Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in cognitive performance scores

    Time frame: Baseline, immediately after completion of chemo, and 6 months after completion of chemotherapy

Secondary outcomes

  1. Correlation between baseline amyloid accumulation in the brain and change in cognitive performance

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months after completion of chemotherapy

  2. Correlation between baseline tau accumulation in the brain and change in cognitive performance

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months after completion of chemotherapy

  3. Correlation between change in tau accumulation in the brain (from baseline to 6 months after completion of chemotherapy) and change in cognitive performance (from baseline to 6 months after completion of chemotherapy)

    Time frame: Baseline, 6 months after completion of chemotherapy

07

Study locations

2 of 2 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided — No data are yet available

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Mar 2015, a primary completion of Jan 2028 and a completion of Jan 2028. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 5, 2014
First posted
Nov 14, 2014
Start
Mar 2015
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2028
CompletionEst.
Jan 2028
Last update
Jul 16, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 16, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02290834
Responsible party
Michael W Parsons (Principal Investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Nov 14, 2014
Start date
Mar 2015
Primary completion
Jan 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 16, 2026

Study contacts

Michael W Parsons, PhD
Contact
mwparsons@mgh.harvard.edu
617-643-0282
Michael Parsons, PhD
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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