Chemotherapy-induced alopecia: psychosocial impact and therapeutic approaches

Abstract

Despite advances in the treatment of many side effects associated with chemotherapy, alopecia remains an issue that is difficult to resolve. Chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) is a condition that can have profound psychosocial and quality-of-life consequences, resulting in anxiety, depression, a negative body image, lowered self-esteem, and a reduced sense of well-being. Patients who fear CIA may sometimes select regimens with less favorable outcomes or may refuse treatment. When supporting patients with CIA, health care providers should use an individualized approach with a focus placed on the actual moment of hair loss. Education, support groups, and self-care strategies are important components of any management approach. No treatment modality for preventing CIA has been clearly shown to be effective. Recent evidence suggests that new scalp hypothermic regimens may be safe and effective. There remains a critical need for effective new approaches to this problem.

Sensor-Controlled Scalp Cooling to Prevent Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia in Female Cancer Patients

“…Temporary chemotherapy-induced alopecia, one of the most common and distressing side effects of chemotherapy treatment, can lead to a negative body image, lower self-esteem, sexual impairment, severe depression, anxiety, and disturbances in social relationships 2 . Fear of hair loss and the associated distress can even result in refusal to undergo appropriate chemotherapy treatment 3 .…”

Application of distance matrices to define associations between acute toxicities in colorectal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

“…Furthermore, they are significant drivers of healthcare costs by increasing the need for supportive care. 3,4 Despite an awareness that toxicities rarely occur independent of each other, the majority of research in supportive cancer care has focused only on individual symptoms, such as fatigue, 5 mucositis, 6 anxiety or alopecia, 7 nausea/vomiting, hematologic toxicity, 9 or pain. 10 This paradigm is currently shifting to the study of symptom clusters, [11][12][13] most of which have been defined using conventional hierarchical analysis.…”

Repercussões na auto-estima provocadas pela tricotomia em craniotomia

“…There are studies showing that one of the strategies used to deal with alopecia is the use of some type of accessory (18) . In our study we verified that this strategy was used, with 35 (70%) patients choosing a cap, a scarf, a bandanna, a wig or a hat as accessories.…”