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Hair Loss News Archives
October 2005
Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy Appears to Prevent Hair Loss in Patients Treated for Brain Cancer:
Presented at ASTRO
By Ed Susman
DENVER, CO -- October 2005
Use of intensity modulated radiotherapy could
prevent the hair loss that usually accompanies use of whole brain irradiation in
palliation procedures to control metastases to the brain, according to a small
study.
Todd Scarbrough, MD, Radiation Oncologist and Medical Director, Melbourne
Internal Medicine Associates, Melbourne, Florida, United States, said that in a
series of 14 patients who underwent the procedure, 6 have had no hair loss and
the others maintained most of their hair.
"With standard whole brain irradiation using opposed lateral beams, virtually
every patient lost 100% of their hair," Dr. Scarbrough said. "This is a quality
of life issue."
"I describe their condition as having subjective mild hair loss. There is no
standard scale for measuring hair loss," Dr. Scarbrough said in a poster
presentation here on October 18th at the 47th annual meeting of the American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).
Dr. Scarbrough said the standard treatment used in hopes of preventing spread of
the brain metastases not only irradiates the brain but also the scalp, leading
to profound hair loss.
"In a patient who has a limited life expectancy, loss of hair can be a
devastating social and emotional consequence," he said. "We have found that it
is not only women who are upset by the loss of their hair but men as well."
Dr. Scarbrough, who holds faculty positions at the University of Miami School of
Public Health and at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio, said that instead of using the two-beam treatment, he offers his
patients a multifield, computer-controlled conformal beam arrangement that can
focus more radiotherapy on the areas where the lesions are located and limit
radiation exposure to the scalp.
Theodore Lawrence, MD, professor and chair of radiation oncology at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, commented, Use of intensity
modulated radiation therapy is much more expensive than standard whole brain
radiation."
"It may be difficult to sell to patients the idea that they might be able to
protect their hair with a procedure that is both more expensive than the
standard and unproven," Dr. Lawrence said.
The physics behind the concept are sound, he said, and there should be less of a
dose of radiation to the scalp. Nevertheless, Dr. Lawrence said the treatment
needs to be compared in a randomized trial to determine its true effectiveness.
Dr. Scarbrough said that if insurers cover the expense of palliation treatment
for a person with late stage cancer, the companies will often pick up the cost
of using the more expensive treatment. Not surprisingly, he said, patients
prefer the treatment that will preserve their hair.