Electric hand warmer versus observation to avoid discomfort during scalp cooling for chemotherapy-induced alopecia prevention: a randomized study

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is a challenge in the management of cancer patients. Scalp cooling (SC) leads to reduction in CIA, however it is associated with significant adverse events, leading to 3–13% discontinuation rates. This pilot study evaluated the role of Electric Hand Warmers (EHW)...

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Published in:	Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 19555
Main Authors:	Landeiro, Luciana Castro Garcia, Lopes Paim Miranda, Diego, Mathias Machado, Roberto, Dienstmann, Rodrigo, Costa e Silva, Matheus, da Silva, Ceci Figuerêdo, de Castro, Adriana Lisbôa Ramalho, dos Santos, Ana Paula Teixeira, Bomfim, Victor Hugo Valença, Teixeira Machado, Bruno, Viviane Carvalho Rodrigues Gonçalves, Michele, Freitas Muniz Teixeira, Andréa, Jamile Santiago Costa, Maira, de Oliveira Dantas Viana, Priscila, Almeida, Pâmela, de Cerqueira Mathias, Clarissa Maria
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 09-11-2023 Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio
Subjects:	631/67 692/4028 Age Alopecia Baldness Breast cancer Chemotherapy Humanities and Social Sciences multidisciplinary Scalp Science Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:	Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is a challenge in the management of cancer patients. Scalp cooling (SC) leads to reduction in CIA, however it is associated with significant adverse events, leading to 3–13% discontinuation rates. This pilot study evaluated the role of Electric Hand Warmers (EHW) on thermal (TC), sensorial (SCo) and general comfort (GC) in patients with breast cancer (BC) undergoing chemotherapy and SC to reduce CIA. Patients were randomly assigned to EHW use or observation. TC, SCo and GC were evaluated after each chemotherapy infusion. Favorable outcomes in both TC and SCo defined a positive result on GC. We analysed the impact of age, alopecia, chemotherapy regimen and EHW use in the different comfort scales using a Logistic Regression (LR) model. Forty women with early breast cancer were randomly assigned to EHW (n = 20) or observation (n = 20) during neo(adjuvant) chemotherapy. Median age was 53 years. In the EHW arm, favorable thermal response was reported by 79% versus 50% in the control arm (odds ratio [OR] 3.79, p < 0.001). SCo was satisfactory in 82% in the EHW arm versus 74% in the control arm (OR 1.62, p = 0.1). Overall, 73% in the EHW arm had favorable GC versus 44% in the control arm (OR 3.4, p < 0.001). Age, alopecia, and chemotherapy regimen did not impact on comfort measures. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the use of an EHW has a consistent favorable impact on TC and GC of BC patients under SC technology to prevent CIA.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-3
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-023-46840-3