New-fangled Entangled

As alluded to in the previous post, there are several follicle-cell cooling devices being marketed for the reduction of alopecia in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment.  In plain english, that means that companies can sell or rent cold caps for women on chemo to try to limit or prevent hair loss.  OK, it doesn't do anything about the cancer itself, but it can certainly help with the preservation of a little dignity.  After losing the breasts, losing the hair is just a little (or a lot to some) salt in the wound.

The cause of hair loss is that one of the drugs used - Taxol - acts on cells that are undergoing cell division to kill them instead of letting them divide.  Cancer cells are characterized by the fact that they divide and reproduce very rapidly compared to most other cells.  Most.  Other cells that divide rather rapidly?  Hair cells.  The idea is to chill the blood vessels thus restricting blood flow to the hair follicles to the point that the taxol doesn't get a chance to act on them (Taxol only really works while it's in the bloodstream during infusion and for a little while after until the body processes it through).

There are two (at least) caveats that go with the cooling caps.  First off, they aren't 100% guaranteed to work.  But what is?  Still, depending on the study you look at, they are up to 88% effective for women receiving Taxol without also receiving anthracycline (another drug that causes hair loss).  Deb isn't going to be getting anthracycline.  But that's 'up to' 88%.  Some studies had lower numbers, but mostly over 60%.  The other caveat is discomfort while using them, but who wouldn't want a -25 degree F block of ice strapped around their cranium for about 5 hours?  Talk about brain-freeze.  I prefer the kind where I at least get ice cream.

But we've discovered that keeping them cold is the hard part.  There aren't many chemo clinics (or any, in Seattle) that have freezers to keep them cold, so they don't offer the caps themselves at this time.  Deb and I are sourcing our own caps.  She has contacted a company that rents them by the month along with a handy cooler, but we have to supply our own dry-ice.  Deb has also found a company in Seattle that will not only be able to supply the dry-ice in the quantity and configuration we'll need, but they are also willing to let us show up before they close on Friday afternoon and put the caps in their freezer over the weekend - we can pick them up with the dry-ice first thing Monday morning (very helpful since Monday will be her infusion day and the caps need to be on ice for at least 24 hours ahead of use).

I had offered to design a cooling system myself that would incorporate a circulating refrigerant through a special helmet system, and Deb was interested when I pointed out that special design features would have to include speakers for the integrated sound system (with the 40 watt subwoofer for full bass response), a disco ball (for ambience), cowbell, and - of course - more cowbell (because it needs it).  It would also be able to dispense frozen yogurt in five flavors, but alas, it will never come to be.  She declined when I told her it would weigh around 400 pounds.  Maybe if I offered it with an optional espresso machine attachment?