New Cold Cap Tech at DCH Helps Tuscaloosa Cancer Patients Keep Their Hair
Some chemotherapy patients at DCH Health System's Manderson Cancer Center now have a way to keep their hair, and the first of them are far enough into treatment that their nurses can see it working.
The Lewis and Faye Manderson Cancer Center began offering the Paxman Scalp Cooling System this summer. Commonly called cold capping, the technology lowers the temperature of a patient's scalp before, during, and after a chemotherapy infusion, reducing the amount of the drug that reaches hair follicles.
Patients wear a specialized cooling cap connected to a compact unit in the infusion area, and DCH said that both studies and real-world outcomes have shown that scalp cooling can help many patients retain a significant portion of their hair during treatment.
"We've seen some truly remarkable results with Paxman," said Sandy Barger, oncology nurse manager at the Manderson Cancer Center. "There are patients who, without scalp cooling, would likely have lost nearly all of their hair by this point in their treatment, yet you would never know they were undergoing chemotherapy just by looking at them. That has been incredibly meaningful to see. For our patients, keeping their hair can help them maintain a sense of normalcy and feel more like themselves during a time when so much of their life has changed. Seeing the confidence this has given our patients has been one of the most rewarding parts of this program."
Laura Skinner, a Manderson patient using the system, said the difference goes beyond appearance.
"This is a complete game changer for me. Just being diagnosed in itself, it takes a lot of emotions away," Skinner said. "But to know there is something like this to maintain some sort of normalcy and to have people still see you as normal and healthy while getting treatment, it changes those types of conversations."
The DCH Foundation is covering the cost of the first 10 scalp cooling treatments for eligible patients, and the foundation is weighing whether to pick up the full cost of the program going forward.
"We've seen firsthand what a difference Paxman Scalp Cooling can make for patients facing cancer treatment," said Brandt Lapish, vice president of development for DCH Health System and executive director of the DCH Foundation. "Supporting the first 10 patients has been an important first step, and the impact we've seen reinforces why funding programs like this matter. Looking ahead, the DCH Foundation is excited to explore fully funding the program next year so that more patients can have access to this important resource during their cancer journey."
The DCH Foundation supports patients, employees, and the health system through a collection of funds built from community donors and from DCH caregivers themselves. Those funds cover things insurance often does not, from assistance for employees facing personal emergencies to grants that supply wound care patients with the dressings they need between appointments.
Scalp cooling is available to eligible adult patients receiving chemotherapy for many solid tumor cancers, including breast, gynecologic, lung, and prostate cancers. Patients interested in the system should talk with their oncology care team about eligibility before beginning treatment.
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