Permanent Alopecia After Systemic Chemotherapy: A Clinicopathological Study of 10 Cases
March 2011
in “
The American Journal of Dermatopathology
”
permanent alopecia systemic chemotherapy androgenetic alopecia terminal hairs telogen hairs vellus hairs anagen hairs telogen ratio stem cell populations hair matrix cells dermal papilla non-reversible alopecia non-scarring alopecia chemotherapy-induced alopecia permanent hair loss chemotherapy male pattern baldness hair follicles resting phase hairs fine hairs growth phase hairs resting phase ratio stem cells hair root cells hair root non-scarring hair loss chemotherapy hair loss
TLDR Chemotherapy can cause permanent, non-reversible hair loss similar to pattern baldness.
The study investigated permanent alopecia in 10 patients who had undergone systemic chemotherapy, revealing histological features similar to androgenetic alopecia. Patients had a reduced number of terminal hairs, an increased number of telogen and miniaturized vellus-like hairs, and a terminal to vellus hair ratio of 1:1, which is lower than normal. The anagen to telogen ratio was also lower than normal at 3.6:1. The study suggested that the cause of permanent alopecia could be due to a reduction in stem cell populations or a failure of hair matrix cells to reconnect with the dermal papilla post-chemotherapy. It highlighted that this type of alopecia is non-reversible and non-scarring, and can be misdiagnosed as androgenetic alopecia without proper clinicopathological correlation. The prevalence of chemotherapy-induced permanent alopecia is unclear, necessitating further research for understanding and prevention.
