Scalp Cooling – An aiding principle in cancer?
One of the fatal disease that kills half of the nation’s population is” Cancer”. Patients who are newly diagnosed by cancer are put in a situation where they must undergo a lot and the toughest part is the loss of hair. The inevitable loss of hair is often one of the hardest that most of the women undergo. New technology has raised in US where the researchers were looking forward to eliminating this problem from several patient’s lists of worries. The principle of “Scalp Cooling” majorly works by reducing the temperature of the scalp a few degrees immediately before, during and after chemotherapy has been shown to be highly effective for preserving hair in women receiving neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer.

                                   
                            
The hair loss prevention system in this study uses cooling fluid to keep the helmet and scalp cold, causing cutaneous vasoconstriction, also potentially resulting in reduced biochemical activity. Experts believe this may help reduce cellular uptake of the agents and/or decrease susceptibility of hair follicles to chemotherapy-induced damage. Hair follicles in the growth phase are sensitive to chemotherapy, resulting in alopecia approximately two weeks after treatment begins. Effectiveness of scalp cooling for hair preservation varies by chemotherapy type and dose, and some evidence also suggests by the degree and duration of cooling. During the trial, women who were treated with scalp cooling wore a cap or helmet with circulating cooling fluid for half an hour before chemotherapy, during chemotherapy administration, and for 90 minutes after the completion of chemotherapy. Patients in the control group did not wear any cap before, during or after their treatment. The interim results revealed that 48 of 95 patients in the intervention group, or 50.5 percent were able to preserve their hair, while none of the 47 patients in the control group kept their hair. Systems are currently being rolled out to hospitals nationwide, bringing more comfort to more patients that need it the most.


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