Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia
March 2009
in “Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery”
TLDR Scalp cooling might reduce hair loss from chemotherapy, but evidence is weak and other treatments are being tested.
The 2009 document discussed the emotional distress caused by chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA), a condition characterized by acute diffuse hair loss. The incidence and severity of CIA were found to be variable and dependent on the specific chemotherapeutic protocol. The primary method to minimize CIA was scalp cooling, but the data supporting this approach was of poor quality. Several experimental approaches were under evaluation, including drug-specific antibodies, hair growth cycle modifiers, cytokines and growth factors, antioxidants, inhibitors of apoptosis, and cell-cycle and proliferation modifiers. However, any protective measures should be selective to the hair follicle to ensure the anticancer efficacy of chemotherapy is not compromised. Two agents, AS101 and minoxidil, were found to reduce the severity or shorten the duration of CIA, but they could not prevent it.
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