Innovative Cooling Treatment Prevents Hair Loss During Chemotherapy

KSBW ^ | Aug 30, 2021 | Troy Frisby

[nickcarraway]

A woman undergoing chemotherapy was able to keep her hair, all due to a special cooling treatment.

Share KSBWUpdated: 6:31 AM PDT Aug 30, 2021 Infinite Scroll Enabled

Troy Frisby Digital Content Producer

Jennifer Bruck’s hair began growing back after her treatment for stage 1B breast cancer in 2019.

But the following year, she was diagnosed with stage 4 metastasized breast cancer.

"I lost all my hair during that treatment and very quickly, within two weeks of starting that treatment, I lost all of that, and then I was good," Bruck said. "The first round, it was difficult to see no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, and it just kind of makes you look like a completely different person."

Bruck didn’t want to lose her hair again. That’s where the Paxman cooling system came in.

Rachael Schmidt of Nebraska Medicine’s Cancer Survivorship Program explained, "It's a cap and, basically, it circulates cold fluid through it. and the machine keeps it at a regulated temperature, just to make sure that it's even through the entire cap."

Schmidt said chemotherapy patients wear the cap during their treatments, as well as before and after.

She explained that chemo goes after quickly dividing cells, which includes hair, adding, "So with the scalp cooling, what it does is it helps reduce blood flow to the hair follicles and will help to prevent hair loss."

According to Schmidt, the cap proved significantly more effective for some than for others.

"Not everybody is a great candidate," she said. "Some chemotherapies, the efficacy is 25 percent. for others, it goes up to 100 percent."

And for patients like Bruck, being able to keep your hair goes far beyond vanity.

"They said that I would probably still lose about 40 percent of my hair and I have not really lost any," she said. "You look in the mirror and you still see you."

[monkeyshine]

In the show Breaking Bad, the character Jesse said the same thing basically. "Put ice on your head it helps prevent hair loss during chemo"

[wetgundog]

This is not new technology, worked on this about 30 years ago.

[WMarshal]

Sometimes the simple solutions are best. She didn’t have to be injected with DNA modifying mRNA, CRISPR-Cas9, or chemicals that can affect the entire body.

[wbarmy]

My wife went through this and it saved all her hair. Every single chemo treatment two of us (5 children and husband) would go with her to the chemo treatment and help to fit the cap. We also had to rotate the gloves and booties to keep her core temperature down while doing this.

But it worked. It also showed the extreme love her children had for her and willingness to do anything to help.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Make it work in old age and name your price.

[Chickensoup]

two nurses invented this in 1979. I remember the write up.

Never saw much more after that .

[FLvoter]

So nothing to stop hair loss/regrow hair for non-chemo patients? Bizarre...

[DAC21]

“This is not new technology, worked on this about 30 years ago”

Yep both my Mom and Sister whom have had cancer in the last five years looked into it, but opted to no do the Cooling Cap due to cost and not just so so results.

[DAC21]

try again:

Yep both my Mom and Sister whom have had cancer in the last five years looked into it, but opted to not do the Cooling Cap due to cost and so so results.