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Introduction/Background Chemotherapy induced alopecia is one of the most devastating side-effects, impacting on the patient‘s psycological well-being, altering body-image, and being also a visible marker of a life-threatening disease. Means to prevent hair loss with scalp hypothermia, were studied for decades but results were unsatisfactory. New tecnologies as DigniCap, use sensor-controlled scalp-cooling. DigniCap was the first system to receive FDA approval on December 2015. We wanted to study feasibility and efficacy of DigniCap system in routine practice. Methodology From September 2016 to March 2019,136 women underwent chemotherapy treatment with DigniCap. Patients shoud be >18 years old, have a diagnosis of breast or gynecological cancer and candidate for adiuvant/neoadiuvant treatment with alopecia-inducing drugs; 116 women had breast and 20 gynecological cancers. Alopecia was evaluated by WHO grading-system. Grade1: hair loss 75%. Results A total of 108 (79.4%) women completed all the chemotherapy with DigniCap, 28 stopped (27 breast and 1 gynecological cancer). Main reasons for stopping were: unefficacy, cold intolerance, therapy change. In the 89 women with breast cancer who completed the treatment, 68 (76.4.%) had a modest hair loss (41 Grade 1 and 27 Grade 2), in 21 the treatment was less effective (12 Grade 3 and 9 Grade 4). In the 19 women with gynecological cancer who completed the treatment, 15 (78.9%) had modest hair loss (10 Grade 1, 5 Grade 2), while 1 had Grade 3 and 3 Grade 4. Conclusion Around 76–79% of women had satisfactory results. Coordinating the appointments in order to give the possibility to treat all the women, was one of the main challenges, requiring an optimal organization by the nursing staff. Use of DigniCap is possible and effective in routinary setting Disclosure Nothing to disclose. |
