DigniCap, a new device promising to help cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy. The cap works by cooling down the patient’s scalp, which slows cell turnover in the hair follicles that chemo normally attacks. It also constricts blood vessels to limit the amount of chemo that reaches the area. It’s been seven months since we last reported on the innovation, and we finally have an update: In December 2015, the FDA officially approved DigniCap, and since then, the device has been used by cancer patients in ten treatment centers around the U.S.
During the FDA clinical trials, DigniCap helped seven out of ten patients with early-stage breast cancer keep at least 50 percent of their hair. The University of Texas Health Science Center’s Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio was the first to use the device simultaneously with chemotherapy, and centers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and California soon followed suit (see below for the full list of centers).
“The availability of DigniCap to improve the quality of life and enhance the self-image of patients undergoing chemotherapy provides a tremendous boost to cancer patients and their families,” says Cathie Chung, a hematology and oncology physician in Los Angeles. “It’s about time that we have a safe, effective, and comfortable way to prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, as this can be the most devastating side effect of therapy for many patients.”