Ah, the wonders of modern science! It is quite amazing how the advancements in medical technology have made it easy to improve the quality of life and find solutions to relatively complex problems.Cancer treatment by itself is a harrowing experience, but hair loss following chemotherapy is a traumatic event for most patients as the visual and public change in appearance affects self-image.
Scientists have now developed a scalp-cooling cap which may help cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy radiation treatment.
Principal investigator, Susan Melin, an associate professor of internal medicine-hematology and oncology at Wake Forest Baptist who specializes in breast cancer, stated, “One of the first questions my patients ask is whether they will lose their hair with the chemotherapy recommended for their breast cancer. Preventing chemotherapy-induced hair loss by using the scalp-cooling cap may relieve severe psychological and emotional stress and improve the patient’s quality of life."
The Working of the DigniCap System
The recent innovation called the DigniCap system is developed by a Swedish company Dignitana. The device is a hat that chills the scalp during chemotherapy. The DigniCap system comprises of a mobile cooling unit and two caps. The inner silicon cap is form-fitted and placed directly on the patient’s head.
It contains cooling tubes and temperature sensors with touch-screen controls. The sensors control the cooling unit to keep scalp temperature within two degrees centigrade.
The outer cap is made of neoprene, which insulates the inner cap and holds it in place during the treatment.
During radiation, the circulating gel in the inner silicon layer helps shrink blood vessels and reduces the dose of chemotherapy to the hair follicles, thus preserving healthy hair without interfering with cancer treatment.
Trials to Test Safety and Efficacy of the DigniCap
The DigniCap system is already in clinical use throughout Europe, Canada, and Japan but is not presently sold or approved for medical use in the United States.
Data from large international trails involving nearly 1,000 chemotherapy patients has established that the scalp-cooling device is safe and well tolerated and decreases hair loss during cancer treatment.
However, the DigniCap will soon undergo a feasibility trial at Wake Forest Baptist and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Ten patients with stage 1 breast cancer at Wake Forest Baptist and 10 at UCSF will wear the device while undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
The focus of the study is to test not only the safety and effectiveness of the cooling system, but also ascertain whether it is easy to use by the patients.
If this trial proves to be a success, it will be a vital step into winning the FDA’s approval for a device that could end the misery of millions of cancer patients.
