A new device designed to reduce hair loss during chemotherapy treatment for cancer has been successfully tested and approved for use in Europe, as well as in Canada and Japan.
The Dignicap system has been developed by a Swedish firm called Dignitana, who claim that the cap is able to limit hair loss for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
The cap, consisting of a form-fitted silicon cap, a mobile cooling unit and a neoprene outer cap to keep everything in place, works by chilling the scalp and shrinking the blood vessels. This reduces the dose of chemotherapy that reaches the hair follicles, thereby limiting hair loss whilst still allowing the treatment to work properly.
The Dignicap system has not yet been FDA approved in the USA, but it is in clinical use in some other parts of the world. Trials have shown a number of positive results; namely, that the cap helps to decrease hair loss during chemotherapy, is safe to use and is well-tolerated by patients.
Susan Melin, breast cancer specialist and Wake Forest Baptist associate professor of internal medicine-haematology and oncology, commented on the device, saying:
“One of the first questions my patients ask is whether they will lose their hair with the chemotherapy recommended for their breast cancer.
“Preventing chemotherapy-induced hair loss by using the scalp cooling cap may relieve severe psychological and emotional stress and improve the patient’s quality of life.”