Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis: Dialogue with Camilla Magnusson, by Adrian Pogacian

In this new edition of “Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis,” by Adrian Pogacian, Camilla Magnusson, a breast cancer survivor and advocate for innovative cancer care solutions, shares insights into Paxman’s scalp cooling technology and its role in reducing chemotherapy side effects, empowering patients to maintain their confidence and identity during treatment. Together, they explore the future of side effect management in oncology.

Camilla Magnusson, Regional Manager at Paxman, is based in Stockholm, Sweden. She was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at only 30 years old and whilst 24 weeks pregnant. Camilla has been with Paxman for almost four years. Before that, her father was a distributor to Paxman and Camilla has therefore been involved in the company and the Paxman family for the past 25 years.

With a background in customer service and sales and her own experience of cancer, Camilla is committed to raising awareness of the importance of scalp cooling for the side effect management, educating oncology teams, nurses and oncology support staff. She is passionate to assist in overcoming barriers to implementation of the treatment, and to ensure the best possible patient experience and scalp cooling outcomes are achieved, with the ambition of the treatment becoming a standard of care within the Scandinavian market.

Adrian Pogacian, MS Psychology, clinical psychologist with executive education in Psycho-oncology, holding a degree in Global Health Diplomacy from Geneva Graduate Institute. Currently, researcher and associate lecturer with focus on Impact of Cancer Diagnosis on Couples and Families, Communication in Cancer Care and Posttraumatic Growth. His expertise is on Coping with Cancer and managing Fear of Recurrence.

Additionally, Founder of INCKA Psycho-oncology Center, Host of Beyond the Cancer Diagnosis Interview Series as well as Writer and Host Content in Psycho-oncology at OncoDaily.com, co-author of the first Romanian Multimodal Care Guideline in Pediatric Onco-hematology, active contributor to the International Psycho-oncology Society, presently IPOS Fear of Cancer Recurrence SIG member and IPOS Early Career Professionals in Psycho-Oncology Committee founder member.

Scalp Cooling faces cancer. An innovative approach for oncological patients?

Adrian Pogacian: Dear Camilla, we are living a world of tremendous technological advancement. Therefore, I would like to share for our audience the history, mission and vision of Paxman.

Camilla Magnusson: Hair loss as a side effect of chemotherapy is perhaps the most well-known and certainly the most outwardly visible and public.

Paxman as a company was born out of a husband’s desire to prevent his wife from suffering through the trauma of chemotherapy-induced hair loss. Our founder and chairman Glenn Paxman used his knowledge and expertise in the refrigeration industry to pioneer a scalp cooling system that enables people going through chemotherapy treatment to maintain their hair.

The family mentality of caring and supporting those going through what can be traumatic treatment side effects is maintained to this day and has become a core value as Paxman continues to grow, understanding how important consistency, privacy and control are to anyone facing cancer.

Paxman are world leaders in chemotherapy side effect management on an ambitious journey to change the face of cancer through cryotherapy-based treatments. The Paxman mission is to democratise access to scalp cooling globally.

Adrian Pogacian: The main expertise is Scalp Cooling. Could you, please, define this notion, which seems to be an innovative one.

Camilla Magnusson: Chemotherapy works by targeting all rapidly dividing cells in the body. Hair is generated by the second fastest dividing cell, and this is the reason why many chemotherapy drugs cause alopecia. The hair follicles in the growth phase are attacked, resulting in hair loss approximately two weeks after the commencement of chemotherapy treatment.

There are multiple mechanisms of action which occur because of scalp cooling. The most commonly recognised is vasoconstriction reducing the amount of chemotherapy-infused blood flow to the scalp. It has been proven that it is likely that a combination of mechanisms renders scalp cooling effective.

Scalp cooling provides the only real and FDA-approved alternative to chemotherapy hair loss resulting in a high level of hair retention or complete hair preservation, improving patients’ self-confidence and creating positive attitudes towards treatment.

The Paxman Scalp Cooling system has been clinically proven to help manage and reduce hair loss during chemotherapy and to support increased rates of hair regrowth. Chemotherapy-induced alopecia is the most feared side effect of treatment in over 75% of patients.

Adrian Pogacian: Scalp cooling is recommended for every oncological patient? If not, which are the exceptions that can’t use this advance technology.

Camilla Magnusson: Scalp cooling can be used for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy for solid tumours.  There are some contraindications including for patients with heamatological malignancies (leukaemia, non-Hodgkin and other generalised lymphomas.)  There is no evidence to show that scalp cooling is more or less effective for different genders, ethnicities or with different hair types.

https://paxmanscalpcooling.com/efficacy-safety/rest-of-world-safety-information/

Adrian Pogacian: Is scalp cooling hard to tolerate? And, it’s normal even for a patient who use scalp cooling to lose hair?

Camilla Magnusson: Scalp cooling is generally well-tolerated, with most people only experiencing minor and reversible side-effects.  For the majority of patients, whilst the first 15 minutes can be uncomfortable, they do acclimatize and it becomes tolerable. Many people say after the first 15 minutes they either feel numb or that they don’t really feel anything at all.

Less than 5% of patients stop scalp cooling because they cannot cope with the cold. Distraction during the first 15 minutes can really help – reading, listening to music or watching a TV show, or chatting to a friend are ways that others have  found helpful.

Body image during cancer treatment is the most stressful thing a patient has to deal with, especially for women. What other psychosocial dimension of cancer do you consider when dealing with oncology patients?

Every person deals differently with their own ‘self-image’ and cancer can deeply affect this.  There are so many aspects of cancer treatment that affect how a person feels not just during treatment but for a long time following their diagnosis.

Scalp cooling can go some way to help maintain a positive body image by reducing the likelihood of hair loss ensuring that every time you see your reflection in a mirror or window you aren’t constantly reminded of your illness.

It also often feels like control is taken away from you when you are navigating a cancer diagnosis, this can also have a huge impact on how you feel on a day-to-day basis.  Being able to maintain a sense of normality during such a traumatic time is invaluable not only for the patient but for their wider family and social network too.

I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer myself, at only 30 years old and whilst I was 24 weeks pregnant.  Behind every patient it is important to see the human being, the need for quality of life and control is critical for everyone who has found themselves with a cancer diagnosis.

Based on my own experiences, I want to believe that there is a lot of strength in continuing to be an active citizen of society, to get back to the “new normal” more quickly, to maintain your own sense of identity and indeed an active social life whilst not having to look like a cancer patient!

21st century cancer care includes so many ways to effectively manage various side effects of chemotherapy.  These days it would be unacceptable for people not to be given solutions to deal with things like nausea, certainly patients should be given the choice to try to prevent hair loss too!

Adrian Pogacian: We know that for oncological patient daily routine is extremely important. With regard to scalp cooling, what is the routine that the patient should applied?

Camilla Magnusson: Choosing to become informed about the scalp cooling process can give a feeling of confidence and control. By becoming familiar with the guidance on the patient resource website www.coldcap.com, particularly the How-To videos, patients can feel confident that they know what a good cap fit should look and feel like, and that can be empowering to know the process is something you are proactively a part of.

Adrian Pogacian: As for the last question, where do you see this field of research in the next decade?

Camilla Magnusson: Paxman’s scalp cooling is continuously evaluated with different types of chemotherapy treatments and patient groups in order to gain further knowledge and improve the treatment. Paxman are pleased to have not only the most published peer-reviewed data using its scalp cooling systems, but the most open and active studies, advancing our knowledge to improve efficacy and access globally.

The company is also developing a medical cooling and compression device to prevent chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a common, dose-limiting side-effect experienced by 30% to 40% of patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer for which no effective prevention and treatment strategies currently exist. A large multicentre trial is ongoing in the USA.

CIPN causes progressive and often irreversible pain or sensitivity in the hands and feet of patients undergoing chemotherapy leading to delays and discontinuation of treatment. It contributes to long-term poor patient well-being and significantly increases the economic burden in terms of healthcare costs. The condition also leads to losses in work productivity, as affected patients are unable to return to work quickly.

The Paxman devices lead the way in side effect management, helping to manage the trauma of chemotherapy hair loss and the prevention of CIPN.  Work with The National University of Singapore has resulted in a new approach to combinatorial treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. which Paxman are committed to providing a solution for. The medical device that has been developed is in the final stages of clinical trials.

As awareness of the efficacy of scalp cooling and other means of chemotherapy side-effect management grows with both patient and clinicians, so does the demand for the treatment.

Previous editions of “Beyond The Cancer Diagnosis”.