Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study

Katleen Van der Gucht; Soumaya Ahmadoun; Michelle Melis; Ellen de Cloe; Charlotte Sleurs; Ahmed Radwan; Jeroen Blommaert; Keisuke Takano; Mathieu Vandenbulcke; Hans Wildiers; Patrick Neven; Peter Kuppens; Filip Raes; Ann Smeets; Stefan Sunaert; Sabine Deprez

doi:10.1002/cncr.33074

Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study

Katleen Van der Gucht, Soumaya Ahmadoun, Michelle Melis, Ellen de Cloe, Charlotte Sleurs, Ahmed Radwan, Jeroen Blommaert, Keisuke Takano, Mathieu Vandenbulcke, Hans Wildiers, Patrick Neven, Peter Kuppens, Filip Raes, Ann Smeets, Stefan Sunaert, Sabine Deprez

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many breast cancer survivors suffer from cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, affecting their quality of life. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a blended-care mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and functional brain changes. Furthermore, correlations between changes in cognitive functioning and self-reported behavioral factors were investigated.

METHODS: Breast cancer survivors (n = 33) who reported cognitive impairment were randomly allocated to a mindfulness condition (n = 18) or a waitlist control condition (n = 15). Patients completed questionnaires on cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue; neuropsychological tests; and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the start of MBI (time 1 [T1]), immediately after the completion of an 8-week MBI program (T2), and 3 months postintervention (T3). Resting-state functional connectivity was estimated in the default mode network, the dorsal and salience attention networks, and the frontoparietal network. Mixed model repeated-measures analysis was performed to test the intervention effect.

RESULTS: Patients in the mindfulness condition exhibited significantly higher connectivity between the dorsal and salience attention networks after the mindfulness intervention compared with those in the control condition. MBI participants also had reduced subjective cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue. No intervention effect was observed on neurocognitive tests.

CONCLUSIONS: MBI may induce functional brain changes in networks related to attention and may have a positive effect on subjective measures of cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Therefore, MBI could be a suitable intervention to improve quality of life in this population and deserves further study in this context.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4246-4255
Number of pages	10
Journal	Cancer
Volume	126
Issue number	18
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33074
Publication status	Published - 2020
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Adolescent
Adult
Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods
Male
Middle Aged
Mindfulness/methods
Pilot Projects
Young Adult

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10.1002/cncr.33074

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Van der Gucht, K., Ahmadoun, S., Melis, M., de Cloe, E., Sleurs, C., Radwan, A., Blommaert, J., Takano, K., Vandenbulcke, M., Wildiers, H., Neven, P., Kuppens, P., Raes, F., Smeets, A., Sunaert, S., & Deprez, S. (2020). Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study. Cancer, 126(18), 4246-4255. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33074

@article{07c36df4c7934762bb63a472bba4a795,

title = "Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study",

abstract = "BACKGROUND: Many breast cancer survivors suffer from cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, affecting their quality of life. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a blended-care mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and functional brain changes. Furthermore, correlations between changes in cognitive functioning and self-reported behavioral factors were investigated.METHODS: Breast cancer survivors (n = 33) who reported cognitive impairment were randomly allocated to a mindfulness condition (n = 18) or a waitlist control condition (n = 15). Patients completed questionnaires on cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue; neuropsychological tests; and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the start of MBI (time 1 [T1]), immediately after the completion of an 8-week MBI program (T2), and 3 months postintervention (T3). Resting-state functional connectivity was estimated in the default mode network, the dorsal and salience attention networks, and the frontoparietal network. Mixed model repeated-measures analysis was performed to test the intervention effect.RESULTS: Patients in the mindfulness condition exhibited significantly higher connectivity between the dorsal and salience attention networks after the mindfulness intervention compared with those in the control condition. MBI participants also had reduced subjective cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue. No intervention effect was observed on neurocognitive tests.CONCLUSIONS: MBI may induce functional brain changes in networks related to attention and may have a positive effect on subjective measures of cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Therefore, MBI could be a suitable intervention to improve quality of life in this population and deserves further study in this context.",

keywords = "Adolescent, Adult, Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods, Male, Middle Aged, Mindfulness/methods, Pilot Projects, Young Adult",

author = "{Van der Gucht}, Katleen and Soumaya Ahmadoun and Michelle Melis and {de Cloe}, Ellen and Charlotte Sleurs and Ahmed Radwan and Jeroen Blommaert and Keisuke Takano and Mathieu Vandenbulcke and Hans Wildiers and Patrick Neven and Peter Kuppens and Filip Raes and Ann Smeets and Stefan Sunaert and Sabine Deprez",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2020 American Cancer Society.",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1002/cncr.33074",

language = "English",

volume = "126",

pages = "4246--4255",

journal = "Cancer",

issn = "0008-543X",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

number = "18",

}

Van der Gucht, K, Ahmadoun, S, Melis, M, de Cloe, E, Sleurs, C, Radwan, A, Blommaert, J, Takano, K, Vandenbulcke, M, Wildiers, H, Neven, P, Kuppens, P, Raes, F, Smeets, A, Sunaert, S & Deprez, S 2020, 'Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study', Cancer, vol. 126, no. 18, pp. 4246-4255. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.33074

Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study. / Van der Gucht, Katleen; Ahmadoun, Soumaya; Melis, Michelle et al.
In: Cancer, Vol. 126, No. 18, 2020, p. 4246-4255.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment

T2 - Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study

AU - Van der Gucht, Katleen

AU - Ahmadoun, Soumaya

AU - Melis, Michelle

AU - de Cloe, Ellen

AU - Sleurs, Charlotte

AU - Radwan, Ahmed

AU - Blommaert, Jeroen

AU - Takano, Keisuke

AU - Vandenbulcke, Mathieu

AU - Wildiers, Hans

AU - Neven, Patrick

AU - Kuppens, Peter

AU - Raes, Filip

AU - Smeets, Ann

AU - Sunaert, Stefan

AU - Deprez, Sabine

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - BACKGROUND: Many breast cancer survivors suffer from cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, affecting their quality of life. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a blended-care mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and functional brain changes. Furthermore, correlations between changes in cognitive functioning and self-reported behavioral factors were investigated.METHODS: Breast cancer survivors (n = 33) who reported cognitive impairment were randomly allocated to a mindfulness condition (n = 18) or a waitlist control condition (n = 15). Patients completed questionnaires on cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue; neuropsychological tests; and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the start of MBI (time 1 [T1]), immediately after the completion of an 8-week MBI program (T2), and 3 months postintervention (T3). Resting-state functional connectivity was estimated in the default mode network, the dorsal and salience attention networks, and the frontoparietal network. Mixed model repeated-measures analysis was performed to test the intervention effect.RESULTS: Patients in the mindfulness condition exhibited significantly higher connectivity between the dorsal and salience attention networks after the mindfulness intervention compared with those in the control condition. MBI participants also had reduced subjective cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue. No intervention effect was observed on neurocognitive tests.CONCLUSIONS: MBI may induce functional brain changes in networks related to attention and may have a positive effect on subjective measures of cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Therefore, MBI could be a suitable intervention to improve quality of life in this population and deserves further study in this context.

AB - BACKGROUND: Many breast cancer survivors suffer from cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, affecting their quality of life. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of a blended-care mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and functional brain changes. Furthermore, correlations between changes in cognitive functioning and self-reported behavioral factors were investigated.METHODS: Breast cancer survivors (n = 33) who reported cognitive impairment were randomly allocated to a mindfulness condition (n = 18) or a waitlist control condition (n = 15). Patients completed questionnaires on cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue; neuropsychological tests; and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the start of MBI (time 1 [T1]), immediately after the completion of an 8-week MBI program (T2), and 3 months postintervention (T3). Resting-state functional connectivity was estimated in the default mode network, the dorsal and salience attention networks, and the frontoparietal network. Mixed model repeated-measures analysis was performed to test the intervention effect.RESULTS: Patients in the mindfulness condition exhibited significantly higher connectivity between the dorsal and salience attention networks after the mindfulness intervention compared with those in the control condition. MBI participants also had reduced subjective cognitive impairment, emotional distress, and fatigue. No intervention effect was observed on neurocognitive tests.CONCLUSIONS: MBI may induce functional brain changes in networks related to attention and may have a positive effect on subjective measures of cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Therefore, MBI could be a suitable intervention to improve quality of life in this population and deserves further study in this context.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Cognitive Dysfunction/psychology

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Mindfulness/methods

KW - Pilot Projects

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1002/cncr.33074

DO - 10.1002/cncr.33074

M3 - Article

C2 - 32639592

SN - 0008-543X

VL - 126

SP - 4246

EP - 4255

JO - Cancer

JF - Cancer

IS - 18

ER -

Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on cancer-related cognitive impairment: Results of a randomized controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study

Abstract

Keywords

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