Unanswered Questions about your Hair Growth after Chemotherapy? 
 
Do you have very little hair growth since your chemo has finished? Are you hiding under a baseball cap long after your hair was supposed to grow back? Are your doctors perplexed or say they have never seen it before? If so, you may be one of a growing number of people around the world who have experienced persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia. The medical community call it pCIA.

According to Sanofi-Aventis, manufacturer of the chemotherapy drug Taxotere or Docetaxel which is the generic version —used to treat breast, lung, gastric, head and neck and prostate cancer—3% of patients administered the drug could experience long-term alopecia. This figure could rise to as high as 15% according to the Clatterbridge Cancer Center study, using Taxotere/Docetaxel-containing regimen. 'Patients' observations confirmed a significant impact on quality of life.' A study carried out in Paris by Dr Huges Bourgeois et al, reached an astonishing 33%.

"This risk should be discussed routinely (as part of the process of informed consent) with all patients embarking upon Taxotere/Docetaxel as a component of management of EBC."

Sadly, despite this recommendation, patients are not being informed of this potentially disfiguring side effect.

In 2021 the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in collaboration with The Christie NHS Foundation carried out a retrospective survey for permanent hair loss associated with taxane chemotherapy use for breast cancer. The results were staggering! In post menopausal women pCIA was reported by 37.8%.
You can read our introduction to scalp cooling which is the only effective method of preventing CIA, chemotherapy induced alopecia and persistant chemotherapy induced alopecia, pCIA. Check out our new page here Scalp Cooling 


 
Ahead of Our Time is a worldwide organisation of cancer patients who have banded together to share emotional support, compare medical research and educate our health care providers. If you are tired of the stares and the dismissive suggestions to “wear a wig”, you will find understanding and, indeed, empowerment among us. Permanent hair loss after chemotherapy for breast cancer is sadly being dismissed, downplayed or ignored by the medical world. We need it to be discussed at all the breast cancer seminars, conferences and included in all literature. Life after cancer matters. Quality of life matters. Patients' rights matter. 

Our co-founder, Shirley Ledlie, recently hosted a keynote discussion about the impact of pCIA for the world's first scalp-cooling summit. Although it's only available to the medical community you can watch the first seven mins on this 
link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B67ukiYHRXQ




#PCIA #pharmanews #toxicology #pharmacology #Taxotere #Docetaxel #HairMatters #scalpcooling