Richard Paxman: Raising Awareness of PCIA for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Richard Paxman, Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director at Paxman, posted the following on LinkedIn:

“This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Paxman is highlighting a critical yet often-overlooked side effect of chemotherapy: persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA).

While temporary hair loss is a common and distressing side effect during chemotherapy, one that we’ve worked hard to mitigate, fewer patients are aware of the risk of PCIA associated with certain chemotherapy regimens.

This permanent form of hair loss can have a profound impact on a patient’s life, physically and emotionally. Thankfully, clinical studies show that this devastating side effect can be significantly reduced with scalp cooling. At Paxman, we’re committed to raising awareness and driving change.

Sharing Results of a Key Study
This month we’re delighted to have disseminated results and conclusions from a key study titled ‘Scalp Cooling in Preventing Persistent Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia: A Randomized Controlled Trial’ published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, by Danbee Kang et al. earlier this year.

There are three significant findings from the study, whereby scalp cooling:

Significantly reduced the incidence of PCIA

Promoted faster recovery of hair density & thickness

Reduced psychological distress and improved quality of life

The data speaks for itself: 52% of patients who did not scalp cool during the study showed signs of PCIA up to 6 months post-chemotherapy compared to just 13.5% in the scalp cooling group.

The study used trichoscopic imaging to measure hair thickness and density among participants in the study up to 6 months after chemotherapy. Hair thickness decreased by 7.5 µm in the control group but actually increased by 1.5 µm in the scalp cooling group.

Using the chemotherapy-induced alopecia distress scale (CADS), developed in Korea and adapted by U.S., Japanese and Chinese investigators, the study found that patients who scalp cooled did not score as high, indicating less CIA-related distress than their counterparts in the control group. Between the baseline and 6-month visits, the CADS score increased by an average of 3.9 points for the scalp cooling group whereas for the control group, the score increased by 7 points.

In addition, a smaller proportion of patients in the scalp cooling group used concealment strategies such as wigs and scarves thanks to better hair retention and regrowth.

Implications for Clinical Practice
So what does this mean for clinical practice? These trial findings align with Paxman’s long-term mission: to ensure all patients have the opportunity to scalp cool. The findings, supported by our campaign, aim to increase awareness of the risk of PCIA but also support scalp cooling as an existing treatment to help prevent it.

As such, we believe scalp cooling should be considered as a standard care option, especially for those requiring anthracycline and/or taxane-based treatments at risk of PCIA.

Alongside the clear lower incidence of PCIA, I feel it is important to highlight once again that the study also demonstrated that patients generally suffer less distress as a result of using a cold cap. From this study and from over 25 years in the chemotherapy side effect management space, we’ve found that vanity is not the primary reason to scalp cool and is beneficial for a patient’s long term emotional and mental well-being.

Paxman’s Campaign
To amplify the findings, we launched a comprehensive awareness campaign across multiple channels, primarily targeting healthcare professionals but also patients. This includes a dedicated webpage, social media outreach, a whitepaper, and more—all with the goal of educating about PCIA and the benefits of scalp cooling.

The content of these included an introduction to PCIA, lived experience with PCIA, scalp cooling experiences and a summary/overview of the study, sharing its results, conclusions and implications for clinical practice.

The core of this awareness campaign sits on our Scalp Cooling Studies website – a dedicated web page on PCIA that brings together the major elements and content of the campaign, which I would highly recommend to oncology professionals.

We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing both Shirley Ledlie and Jo Knight, two inspirational individuals living with PCIA, who dedicate a lot of their time to helping and advocating for others.

We’re so grateful for their contributions to this campaign, having shared their experiences with us and answered questions about living with the condition to help us raise awareness of PCIA and how scalp cooling can help prevent it. In addition to sharing clips and quotes as part of our campaign, our news page hosts articles going into further detail about their experiences.

Enabling Informed Choices
At Paxman, we believe that every person navigating a cancer diagnosis deserves to be informed about all potential side effects of chemotherapy and to make their own decisions regarding scalp cooling. Numerous studies, along with countless patient stories, remind us that retaining hair—or regrowing it—can have a profound impact on a patient’s confidence and emotional well-being. Throughout the company, we have seen positive patient stories where people have been able to retain some of their hair, sometimes citing hair regrowth as their primary motivation to scalp cool.

We are deeply grateful to be part of this important work, and we hope this campaign helps further educate and empower patients and healthcare professionals alike on the real risk of PCIA and the life-changing potential of scalp cooling.

For more information on the Paxman Scalp Cooling System visit www.paxmanscalpcooling.com.

For more studies and data on scalp cooling visit our comprehensive study library at www.scalpcoolingstudies.com.

Danbee Kang, Juhee Cho, Di Zhao, Jeonghyun Kim, Nayeon Kim, Hoyoung Kim, Sooyeon Kim, Ji-Yeon Kim, Yeon Hee Park, Young Hyuck Im, Eliseo Guallar, & Jin Seok Ahn

Samsung Medical Center.”

Richard Paxman is the Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director at Paxman. Previously, he was an Operations Director at Paxman Coolers Limited. He has also served as the General Manager at Brewfitt Limited.