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TOPLINE:
, compared with those who opted to forgo scalp cooling.
METHODOLOGY:
- Although studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of scalp cooling to reduce hair loss during breast cancer chemotherapy, most were in the setting of single-agent regimens instead of much more commonly used combined chemotherapy, and few studies assessed patients’ subjective experience.
- To get a real-world sense of the treatment, investigators compared outcomes in 75 women who opted to use the Orbis Paxman cooling cap during taxane/anthracycline-based chemotherapy sessions with 38 women with breast cancer patients who declined to use the cooling cap.
- The women were surveyed for hair loss perception, functional health, and body image at baseline, midchemotherapy, and at their last chemotherapy cycle, as well as at 3 months and 6-9 months following chemotherapy.
- The women were treated at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, for various stages of breast cancer; about half were premenopausal.
TAKEAWAY:
- There was no significant difference between the scalp-cooling and control groups in patient-reported hair loss (P = .831), overall quality of life (P = .627), emotional functioning (P = .737), social functioning (P = .635), and body image (P = .463).
- On average, women stayed on treatment with the cooling cap for about 40% of the duration of their chemotherapy.
- Overall, 53 of 75 women (70.7%) stopped scalp cooling early, with most (73.9%) citing alopecia as the primary reason; only 30% completed treatment.
IN PRACTICE:
“The efficacy and tolerability of [scalp cooling] applied in a clinical routine setting ... appeared to be limited,” the authors concluded. “The further determination and up-front definition of criteria prognostic for effectiveness of [scalp cooling] may be helpful to identify patient subgroups that may experience a treatment benefit.”
SOURCE:
The work, led by Christine Brunner, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, was published in Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy.
LIMITATIONS:
- Shorter intervals between surveys might have given a more granular understanding of patients’ experiences with scalp cooling.
- There were no biomarker assessments to help identify patients more likely to benefit.
DISCLOSURES:
The work was supported by the Medical University of Innsbruck. Dr. Brunner disclosed a grant from Paxman UK, maker of the cooling cap used in the study. Another investigator disclosed personal fees from AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Lilly, Novartis, and Sirius.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
TOPLINE:
, compared with those who opted to forgo scalp cooling.
METHODOLOGY:
- Although studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of scalp cooling to reduce hair loss during breast cancer chemotherapy, most were in the setting of single-agent regimens instead of much more commonly used combined chemotherapy, and few studies assessed patients’ subjective experience.
- To get a real-world sense of the treatment, investigators compared outcomes in 75 women who opted to use the Orbis Paxman cooling cap during taxane/anthracycline-based chemotherapy sessions with 38 women with breast cancer patients who declined to use the cooling cap.
- The women were surveyed for hair loss perception, functional health, and body image at baseline, midchemotherapy, and at their last chemotherapy cycle, as well as at 3 months and 6-9 months following chemotherapy.
- The women were treated at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, for various stages of breast cancer; about half were premenopausal.
TAKEAWAY:
- There was no significant difference between the scalp-cooling and control groups in patient-reported hair loss (P = .831), overall quality of life (P = .627), emotional functioning (P = .737), social functioning (P = .635), and body image (P = .463).
- On average, women stayed on treatment with the cooling cap for about 40% of the duration of their chemotherapy.
- Overall, 53 of 75 women (70.7%) stopped scalp cooling early, with most (73.9%) citing alopecia as the primary reason; only 30% completed treatment.
IN PRACTICE:
“The efficacy and tolerability of [scalp cooling] applied in a clinical routine setting ... appeared to be limited,” the authors concluded. “The further determination and up-front definition of criteria prognostic for effectiveness of [scalp cooling] may be helpful to identify patient subgroups that may experience a treatment benefit.”
SOURCE:
The work, led by Christine Brunner, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, was published in Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy.
LIMITATIONS:
- Shorter intervals between surveys might have given a more granular understanding of patients’ experiences with scalp cooling.
- There were no biomarker assessments to help identify patients more likely to benefit.
DISCLOSURES:
The work was supported by the Medical University of Innsbruck. Dr. Brunner disclosed a grant from Paxman UK, maker of the cooling cap used in the study. Another investigator disclosed personal fees from AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Lilly, Novartis, and Sirius.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
TOPLINE:
, compared with those who opted to forgo scalp cooling.
METHODOLOGY:
- Although studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of scalp cooling to reduce hair loss during breast cancer chemotherapy, most were in the setting of single-agent regimens instead of much more commonly used combined chemotherapy, and few studies assessed patients’ subjective experience.
- To get a real-world sense of the treatment, investigators compared outcomes in 75 women who opted to use the Orbis Paxman cooling cap during taxane/anthracycline-based chemotherapy sessions with 38 women with breast cancer patients who declined to use the cooling cap.
- The women were surveyed for hair loss perception, functional health, and body image at baseline, midchemotherapy, and at their last chemotherapy cycle, as well as at 3 months and 6-9 months following chemotherapy.
- The women were treated at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, for various stages of breast cancer; about half were premenopausal.
TAKEAWAY:
- There was no significant difference between the scalp-cooling and control groups in patient-reported hair loss (P = .831), overall quality of life (P = .627), emotional functioning (P = .737), social functioning (P = .635), and body image (P = .463).
- On average, women stayed on treatment with the cooling cap for about 40% of the duration of their chemotherapy.
- Overall, 53 of 75 women (70.7%) stopped scalp cooling early, with most (73.9%) citing alopecia as the primary reason; only 30% completed treatment.
IN PRACTICE:
“The efficacy and tolerability of [scalp cooling] applied in a clinical routine setting ... appeared to be limited,” the authors concluded. “The further determination and up-front definition of criteria prognostic for effectiveness of [scalp cooling] may be helpful to identify patient subgroups that may experience a treatment benefit.”
SOURCE:
The work, led by Christine Brunner, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, was published in Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy.
LIMITATIONS:
- Shorter intervals between surveys might have given a more granular understanding of patients’ experiences with scalp cooling.
- There were no biomarker assessments to help identify patients more likely to benefit.
DISCLOSURES:
The work was supported by the Medical University of Innsbruck. Dr. Brunner disclosed a grant from Paxman UK, maker of the cooling cap used in the study. Another investigator disclosed personal fees from AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Lilly, Novartis, and Sirius.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
BREAST CANCER: TARGETS AND THERAPY