Cooling caps for chemo
As a trillion-ton iceberg calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on Antarctica, scientists warned that it's just the beginning: Ninety percent of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula are starting to disintegrate. That has far-reaching repercussions, since frozen or thawing ice shelves, sheets and caps at both poles influence everything from sea level to temperature and rain cycles around the globe.
Better news about ice caps is always welcome, and the Food and Drug Administration made an announcement recently that should cheer folks undergoing certain types of chemo. Ice caps - well, they're really called cooling caps - have been approved for expanded use. Originally OK'd only for breast cancer patients, they now can be used to prevent hair loss by anyone undergoing chemotherapy for a solid tumor. They're highly effective 50 to 65 percent of the time.
The computer-controlled system circulates a cool gel (-15 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit) through a cap that's placed on your head. It helps prevents hair loss by constricting blood vessels in the scalp, reducing the amount of chemotherapy that reaches the cells in your hair follicles; it also slows down cell division and the activity of the hair follicles, making them less affected by chemotherapy. Good news: The FDA says, "The risk of the chemotherapy drug missing an isolated grouping of the cancer cells in the scalp because of the cooling cap is rare."
So if you are headed for chemo, talk with your oncologist to determine if, given your planned treatment, it makes sense for you to cool your cap or not.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Read more http://cdn.kingfeatures.com/rss/feed/editorial/index.php?content=YouDocTips_20170802