Cancer patients can keep their hair

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Patients having treatment for brain cancer do not need to lose their hair, according to a new report.
Hair loss can be a distressing side effect of cancer therapy. But this need not be so, say researchers at a cancer center in Florida. They have been looking at a small group of patients whose cancer required radiation therapy to the brain. The doctors used a technique called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) which spares the hair follicles while targeting the brain.

Half of the patients had only minimal hair loss and the rest none at all. Nor did they experience other problems, such as a rash, that might normally be linked with whole brain radiotherapy. In the short term, at least, survival has been 100 per cent. It's good news for patients who fear losing their hair as a side effect of cancer treatment delivered to the brain.

Source
American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting 16th October 2005