Prospective cohort study of chemotherapy-induced alopecia with or without scalp cooling.

Abstract

9138 Background: Scalp cooling can prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Success varies according to the type of chemotherapy. A controversy exists regarding the use of scalp cooling because of the lack of efficacy data with modern chemotherapy regimen and safety data. We present a prospective cohort study design to measure alopecia. Methods: The prospective study was conducted at the Centre des Maladies du Sein Deschênes-Fabia (CMS) in Quebec City (where scalp cooling is offered routinely and 85% of women use it) and at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montreal (CHUM), in Montreal (where scalp cooling is not available). Women were eligible if they were going to receive neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. The study involved completion of questionnaires (on degree of alopecia, hair type, hair care, use of head accessories, tolerance to scalp cooling and questions related to sick leave from work) and having pictures taken at baseline, cycle 3 and at the last cycle of chemotherapy. For the last 43 patients, the EORTC QLQ-C30/BR23 and an adaptation for Hairdex were added. Results: A total of 136 patients were recruited (110 at CMS over 2 years and 26 at the CHUM over a 9-month period). Preliminary efficacy results are shown in the Table (data on quality of life have not yet been analyzed). Hair preservation was defined as a SUCCESS for hair loss (since the beginning of chemotherapy) characterized as “not at all”, “a little” or “moderate” and “FAILURE” when characterized as “a lot” or “all” or “hair shaved”. Overall, in the scalp cooling group, 34% were considered a “success” using hairdresser evaluation and 49% using patient evaluation; for the non scalp-cooling group, these rates were 9% and 4% respectively. Conclusions: Scalp cooling appears to be efficacious for preventing chemotherapy-induced alopecia in this exploratory cohort study. [Table: see text]