There may be biological reasons some patients are more prone to chemo brain, she said. She generally refers those who don’t improve to a neuropsychologist. The focus then is on helping patients overcome the problems.
“There may be things we can do to organize their lives,” Ganz said. Patients might begin to use planners or “sticky notes,” she explained, to help remember things.
Exercise can also help, Janelsins said. In an earlier study, she found that patients who engaged in gentle yoga saw improvement in thinking function.
The study findings aren’t a reason to change clinical practice at this point, Ganz and Janelsins agreed. What’s needed, they said, is more information on which patients are most likely to develop the thinking problems.