Prevention and Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia: What Is Available and What Is Coming?

ABSTRACT: Millions of new cancer patients receive chemotherapy each year. In addition to killing cancer cells, chemotherapy is likely to damage rapidly proliferating healthy cells, including the hair follicle keratinocytes. Chemotherapy causes substantial thinning or loss of hair, termed chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA), in approximately 65% of patients. CIA is often ranked as one of the most distressing adverse effects of chemotherapy, but interventional options have been limited. To date, only scalp cooling has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent CIA. However, several factors, including the high costs not always covered by insurance, preclude its broader use. Here we review the current options for CIA prevention and treatment and discuss new approaches being tes

SUBMITTER: Wikramanayake TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10137043 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature