Podcast
Staying Cool: Cold Caps and Hair Preservation in Cancer
Author(s):
In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with breast cancer specialist Dr. Julie Nangia about the increase of popularity in the use of devices known as cold caps to help patients with solid tumors receiving treatment for their disease keep more of their hair from falling out.
Chemotherapy-associated hair loss is an unfortunate side effect of cancer treatment that many patients receiving treatment sadly face. However, devices known as cold caps, which have been shown to safely help patients receiving treatment for solid tumors keep a significant percentage of their hair, have grown in popularity as of late.
In this week’s episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Dr. Julie Nangia, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, about how cold caps work, as well as how effective the product is and what, if any, side effects patients should expect to experience.
“A lot of people used to think that breast reconstruction was optional because it was cosmetic, but data showed that it had a huge psychological impact,” Nangia said in the interview. “The same kind of data are emerging about chemotherapy-induced alopecia.”
Additionally, Nangia, who is a breast cancer specialist, highlights how the management of hair loss in a patient receiving treatment for cancer is more important than was once thought.
