Radiation plan Evaluation using Frailty Index for Normal tissue Effects (REFINE): Frailty and Cognitive Decline
Description: Older adults with brain tumors have a heightened risk of cognitive decline after radiation therapy compared to their younger counterparts. The reasons for this are not completely understood. Currently, only radiation dose exposures in the brain are used to predict cognitive decline after treatment. However, these models are imperfect and fail to account for individual patient factors. Frailty, which describes a patient's biologic vulnerability to stressors like cancer treatment, increases the risk of cognitive decline from chemotherapy. Surprisingly, this has never been studied in the context of radiation therapy for brain tumors. Frailty may be a critical risk factor for cognitive decline after radiation therapy for brain tumors in older adults.
In this study, older patients with primary brain tumors will be followed over one year after cranial radiation to measure the relationship between frailty, changes on MRI brain, and radiation doses that cause cognitive decline. We will assess whether frailty changes radiation sensitivity in the brain, as shown by imaging changes on MRI brain. The study will also evaluate whether frailty changes the radiation doses that cause cognitive side effects. We hypothesize that patients with increased frailty will have more cognitive decline after radiation treatment.
This study is the first of its kind to evaluate the relationship between frailty and the risk of cognitive decline after radiation therapy for brain tumors in older adults. A deeper understanding of the relationship between frailty and radiation-related cognitive decline could lead to the development of personalized radiation treatment plans that consider patient-specific factors, such as frailty, to improve outcomes in older adults with brain tumors. Such a patient-centered approach could result in a higher quality of life for older adults with brain tumors, while also maximizing the benefits of radiation therapy. This study represents a crucial step towards achieving that goal.
Funder: American Cancer Society
Amount: $583,200
Funding type: award
Start date: 2024-01-01
End date: 2027-12-31
Investigator: Sara Hardy
Institution: University of Rochester Medical Center, Wilmot Cancer Institute
Topic: Frailty in Older Adults
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: ASTRO-CSDG-23-1141070-01-CSCT
OpenAlex ID: G2275129665