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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The foggy-headedness reported by many people on chemotherapy may have met its match.
A new study conducted among breast cancer patients shows the drug modafinil (Provigil) significantly improves memory and attention when taken over eight weeks. Some improvements were even seen after just four weeks on the drug.
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The researchers decided to test modafinil in breast cancer patients after previous research showed 82 percent of such patients complained of memory and other learning problems while on chemotherapy. The drug is known to help keep people awake and is used to treat narcolepsy (a condition in which people fall asleep too easily). College students and others trying to stay up beyond their limits have sought out the medication, dubbing it the genius pill.
This study involved 68 women who all took the drug for the first four weeks of chemotherapy. At that point, about half the women continued on the active medication and the rest received a placebo. Memory improved somewhat after just four weeks of treatment and even more after eight weeks. The ability to focus attention improved as well in those who continued to receive the drug for an additional four weeks.
I am very enthusiastic about the potential weve demonstrated, study author Sadhna Kohli, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of Rochesters James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, was quoted as saying. This is a novel drug, and after completing the trial, many of the women wanted to know how they could continue to get modafinil.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting in Chicago, June 1-5, 2007
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