Shorter post-infusion cooling times at least as effective as longer cooling times - An observational study of taxane- and anthracycline-based chemotherapies in the Dutch Scalp Cooling Registry.

PURPOSE: Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA), a very common and distressing side effect of cancer treatment can be effectively prevented by scalp cooling. The aim of this observational study was to estimate the effect of post-infusion cooling time (PICT) on wearing a head cover for taxane- and anthracycline-based chemotherapies.

METHODS

The Dutch Scalp Cooling Registry (DSCR), which started in January 2006, collected data from 4680 scalp-cooled patients across 68 Dutch hospitals. Questionnaires on patient, chemotherapy and scalp cooling characteristics were completed by patients and nurses. The patient-reported primary outcome included the use of head covering during the final scalp cooling session. Analysis included patients who had received Docetaxel 75 or 100 mg/m2 (D75 or D100), Paclitaxel 70-90 or 160-180 mg/m2 (T70-90 or T160-180), Adriamycin 60 mg/m2 and Cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 (AC), or 5-Fluorouracil 500 mg/m2 Epirubicin 90 or 100 mg/m2 and Cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2 (FE90C or FE100C).

RESULTS

Shorter post-infusion cooling times (< 85 minutes) seem to be sufficient for maintaining scalp cooling effectiveness in the chemotherapy regimens studied, with no added benefit from extending cooling time beyond this threshold.

CONCLUSION

For all anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy regimens studied, shorter PICTs delivered comparable results to longer PICTs.