A Music Therapy Study for Blood Cancer Survivors With Cognitive Difficulties

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Blood Cancer; Lymphoma; Leukemia; Myeloma

• Registration Number: NCT07052916
• Lead Sponsor: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Brief Summary

Research has shown that music-based activities may help improve brain functions, such as attention, memory, and executive function. Because of this past research, the researchers are doing this study to find out whether telehealth music therapy is a practical treatment for cognitive difficulties in blood cancer survivors. The researchers will also study whether music therapy and music education help improve cognitive function and other common symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and/or tiredness.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-06
• Study Start: 2025-06-27
• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-30
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-30
• Study First Posted: 2025-07-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-09
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-11
• Primary Completion: 2026-12-27
• Study Completion: 2026-12-27

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

• English-proficient, aged 18 or older
• Diagnosis of lymphoma, leukemia, or myeloma
• Stable oncologic disease or no evidence of disease as indicated in the medical chart or by the oncology team
• Score of <54 on the FACT-Cog PCI subscale
• Minimum life expectancy of one year as per clinician assessment
• Patient should be able to understand and complete all study assessments on their own.
• Eligible patient should be able to understand informed consent and provide signed informed consent in English.

Exclusion Criteria

• Less than 3 months since completion of surgery, radiation, induction chemotherapy (for newly diagnosed or relapsed disease), transplantation, or immunotherapy (e.g., CAR T-Cell, bispecific antibodies)

  • If there is a defined treatment period, the patient must be at least 3 months from treatment completion
  • If the patient is on continuous therapy, patient must have completed at least 6 months of the therapy
  • Maintenance therapies are allowed

• Received music therapy (MT) in the past year

• Current music training, >6 months of music training in the past 10 years, or plan to initiate music training during the study

• No access to an internet-connected device

• Active suicidal ideation, bipolar, schizophrenia, or substance abuse

• BOMC score ≥10 (indicative of dementia)

• Uncorrectable visual, auditory, or motor impairments

• Initiation or altered dose of sedative, stimulant, or anti-cholinergic medications in the past month or plan to initiate these medications during the study, as these are known to impact cognitive function

• Initiation of any other interventions for CRCD (e.g., cognitive rehabilitation) in the past month or plan to initiate these interventions during the study, as these are known to impact cognitive function

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Feasibility of studying a telehealth-based Music Therapy/MT intervention for cancer-related cognitive dysfunction/CRCD in hematologic cancer survivors as defined as the completion of 9 or more sessions.	up to 1 year	The primary objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of studying a telehealth-based Music Therapy/MT intervention for cancer-related cognitive dysfunction/CRCD in hematologic cancer survivors. Feasibility will be defined as the completion of 9 or more sessions out of the planned 12 weekly sessions of music therapy.

Trial Locations

Locations (7)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Middletown, New Jersey, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Montvale, New Jersey, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Suffolk - Commack (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Commack, New York, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Harrison, New York, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States

Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (All protocol activities); 🇺🇸 Uniondale, New York, United States