Journal of Bioengineering & Biomedical Science

Site-Dependence Scalp Cooling System to Prevent Hair Loss during Chemotherapy

Abstract

Sheikholeslami M, Ghaffari M, Khorasani AF and Zoghi M

Hair loss (Alopecia) is regarded as the most distressing side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients. A reduction in cutaneous cell metabolism as a response to the hypothermia could simply make hair follicles less susceptible to drug damage with subdural cooling. In this study, a detailed three-dimensional finite element of human head model is used to investigate the changes in cutaneous blood flow due to heat transfer during the cooling process. Our finite element model consists of scalp, skull (trabecular and cortical bones), all meningeal layers, flax, tentorium, and the brain. Cooling effect was investigated in three different regions of frontal, superior and occipital of the head. The results showed that frontal region is the most sensitive region during cooling, because of the highest contact area between the scalp and the coolant. In order to keep the normal brain condition, the coolant temperature must not be lower than 2°C. It’s also recommended to keep the coolant temperature in range of -5°C to 7°C. With the constant coolant temperature, the results showed different steady state temperatures in different anatomical regions. It is therefore expected to design a new scalp cooling cap to provide site-dependence temperature with respect to different head regions for optimum heat transfer.