Successful reduction of alopecia induced by anthracycline and taxane containing adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer – clinical evaluation of sensor-controlled scalp cooling

Background Scalp cooling is a long known method to reduce chemotherapy-induced alopecia in cancer patients with solid tumors. Due to a progress in this method, a medical device enabling individual feedback-controlled temperature regulation was evaluated. Between June 2011 and December 2012, 83 breast cancer patients were included. Evaluation was focussed on the quantification of alopecia, satisfaction and side effects of the scalp cooling system in (neo-) adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Alopecia quantification was done by patient evaluation and experts rating. Findings Based on patient hair loss evaluations, the mean overall success rate of scalp cooling (