Improving Cognitive Function Through High-Intensity Interval Training in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: More than 75% of patients with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy experience cognitive impairments (eg, memory and attention problems), commonly known as chemo-brain. Exercise, especially aerobic high-intensity interval training (HIIT), is associated with better cognitive function in healthy populations. However, clinical trials testing the impact of exercise interventions on chemotherapy-induced cognitive decline in patients with cancer are lacking, and the mechanisms through which exercise could improve cognitive function are unclear. Objective: The objective of the Improving Cognitive Function Through High-Intensity Interval Training in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy trial is to examine the effects of HIIT on cognitive function in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: This 2-arm, single-center, pilot randomized controlled trial will randomize 50 patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy to HIIT or attention control. The HIIT group will perform a supervised 16-week, thrice-weekly intervention, with each session including a 5-minute warm-up at 10% maximal power output (POmax), 10 sets of alternating 1-minute high-intensity (90% POmax) and 1-minute recovery (10% POmax) intervals, and a 5-minute cooldown (10% POmax). The attention control group will receive a stretching program with no exercise components and be asked to maintain their exercise levels for 16 weeks. The primary outcomes of the study are executive function and memory measured using the National Institutes of Health toolbox and resting-state connectivity and diffusion tensor imaging microstructure evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging. The secondary and tertiary outcomes include cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, physical fitness, and psychosocial health. The study has been approved by the institutional review board of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (20-222). Results: The trial was funded in January 2019, with recruitment started in June 2021. As of May 2022, a total of 4 patients have consented and been randomized (n=2, 50% to exercise; n=1, 25% to control; and n=1, 25% nonrandomized). Trial completion is expected in January 2024. Conclusions: This first-of-its-kind study incorporates a novel exercise intervention (ie, HIIT) and comprehensive cognitive measures. If positive, our findings will establish the pilot efficacy of HIIT on chemotherapy-induced cognitive function in patients with breast cancer, providing the foundation for future larger phase-II and phase-III trials to confirm the findings and potentially establish HIIT as a standard of care for women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.