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New therapy at Roper St. Francis may help breast cancer patients keep their hair


New cold cap therapy at Roper St. Francis could help breast  cancer patients keep their hair.
New cold cap therapy at Roper St. Francis could help breast cancer patients keep their hair.
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Hair loss can be a traumatic part of battling cancer, but a new treatment could make it a thing of the past thanks to something called cold cap therapy in use at Roper St. Francis.

Frieda Margolies is battling stage two breast cancer for the second time. Four years ago, she lost all her hair during chemotherapy, so she knows what to expect.

It's an experience she doesn't want to go through again.

"(It's) everything. To a woman, hair is everything," Margolies said. "If I tried going bald to the supermarket, people would stare at me, so I started wearing a wig in the summer."

This time around, Margolies needs four rounds of chemotherapy and radiation to destroy the cancer. But she's trying a new therapy a cold cap that helps prevent hair loss.

"It's actually a very old concept," said Dr. David Ellison, a Roper St. Francis affiliated oncologist with Charleston Hematology and Oncology Associates. "It just took a while for it to get perfected."

Ellison said the DigniCap was FDA approved in December 2015. Ellison was involved in the clinical trials has seen positive results.

For several hours, a patient is hooked up to a machine while the silicone cooling cap freezes the scalp.

"It constricts the blood flow to the hair follicles and with the cold, the blood flow is very restrictive so the chemotherapy isn't getting to the hair follicles," Ellison said.

Margolies had her first chemo and DigniCap therapy session on May 4. She has three more rounds to go. She said it was relatively painless, but uncomfortable. She said it feels like a brain freeze after sipping a cold drink too fast.

"I figure, it can't be any worse than losing my hair," she said. "That's why I decided to try it."

Currently, the DigniCap is only approved for breast cancer patients. It's not covered by insurance and costs around $600 a treatment.

Ellison said he believes cold cap therapy will eventually become commonplace and hopes insurance companies will see the benefits. He said most companies cover wig costs, but cold cap therapy will prevent the need for a wig.

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