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Abstract Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia (CIA) is a visibly distressing consequence of chemotherapy. Although it does not pose a life-threatening risk, CIA can significantly affect patient’s self-esteem. Regarding the mechanism of action, stress induced by chemotherapy treatment can lead to the shedding of hair follicles, generating varying degrees of hair loss. In recent years, scalp cooling has emerged as a beneficial preventative agent for CIA due to its ability to induce vasoconstriction in the scalp and reduce follicular metabolic rate. To assess the efficacy of scalp cooling in preventing CIA, we conducted a review of randomized control trials published on PubMed in the last 10 years. Five studies met our inclusion criteria, in which three examined hair preservation and two evaluated treatment duration efficacy. All studies investigating hair preservation with scalp cooling reported highly significant results from the cooling device when compared to a placebo (56. 3% vs. 0%, 39. 3% vs. 0%, and 50. 5% vs. 0%, respectively). Additionally, one of these studies also assessed hair regrowth, revealing higher rates in the scalp cooling group compared to the control at 6 weeks (89% vs. 12%) and at 12 weeks (100% vs. 59%). Both studies evaluating the effectiveness of scalp cooling based on treatment duration concluded that 20 minutes of cooling was as effective as 45 and 90 minutes in preventing CIA. Collectively, these findings add to the mounting evidence endorsing scalp cooling as a powerful management strategy in averting CIA. Citation Format: Simonetta I. Gaumond, Rama Abdin, Rory O. McPhillips, Lina M. Ferrari, Sammya Mufarrej, Joaquin J. Jimenez. Innovative strategies for managing chemotherapy-induced alopecia: Scalp cooling abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts) ; 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84 (6Suppl): Abstract nr 6303.
Gaumond et al. (Fri,) studied this question.