In gynecologic cancers, many common chemotherapy agents can lead to chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Currently scalp cooling is the most well studied preventive measure. However, its acceptability and its impact on patients' QOL in Asian population is unclear.
Dynamic scalp cooling system prevents alopecia by inducing vasoconstriction leading to a reduction of scalp blood flow, thus reducing the delivery of cytotoxic drugs to the hair follicles and reducing follicular metabolic activities. One recent meta-analysis included 10 studies showed that the efficacy was 43% in general.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
80
The experimental arm will have scalp cooling that starts 30 minutes before the chemotherapy, continues throughout the infusion of the chemotherapy, and lasts for 20-90 minutes more depending on the type of regimen.
The control arm will not have scalp cooling before, during and after chemotherapy.
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Incidence and grading of chemotherapy induced alopecia
Will be assessed by Dean's scale Grade 0 - 4 (from 0% to \>75% hair loss)
Time frame: 9 months
Quality-of-life scale
Different functional scales will be assessed by questionnaires like the EORTC questionnaires where all scales range from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater the intensity of that particular item is.
Time frame: 9 months
Anxiety / depression level
Anxiety and depression scales will be assessed by GAD7 PHQ9. A higher score means the more frequent an event is.
Time frame: 9 months
Incidence and grading of treatment-related adverse events
Will be assessed by CTCAE v5.0
Time frame: 9 months
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