{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-hair-preservation-for-all","kind":"idea","name":"Fund scalp cooling and hair-preserving measures for every alopecia-inducing regimen","aka":[],"tldr":"Losing hair is one of the most distressing side-effects of chemotherapy and can often be prevented with a cooling cap. Make it routinely available and paid for.","summary":"Scalp cooling reduces chemotherapy-induced alopecia in randomised trials and is cleared by regulators, yet availability depends on charity, geography and unit culture. The proposal is payer coverage and unit-level capacity for scalp cooling for all patients receiving alopecia-inducing regimens who want it, plus trials of adjunctive topical agents, with hair preservation and body-image outcomes measured in registries.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued): Di Maio et al., Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting (JCO 2015)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2014.57.9334"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["rejuvenation"],"technologies":["scalp-cooling"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Universal availability raises use to over half of eligible patients and reduces refusal of alopecia-inducing regimens and treatment-related distress.","rationale":"Alopecia influences treatment choice and self-image; the intervention exists and is safe, and the barrier is purely organisational and financial.","test":"Payer covers scalp cooling in one region; measure uptake, hair preservation rates and refusal of recommended chemotherapy versus a matched region.","maturity":"being-tested-at-scale","actor":"payer","cost":"small","horizonYears":2},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-hair-preservation-for-all/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"rejuvenation","kind":"section","name":"Recovery & Rejuvenation","route":"/fronts/rejuvenation/"}],"technology":[{"id":"minoxidil-chemotherapy-alopecia","kind":"technology","name":"Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss","route":"/technologies/minoxidil-chemotherapy-alopecia/"},{"id":"scalp-cooling","kind":"technology","name":"Scalp cooling (cold caps: DigniCap, Paxman)","route":"/technologies/scalp-cooling/"},{"id":"wigs-cranial-prosthesis","kind":"technology","name":"Wigs, cranial prostheses and head coverings","route":"/technologies/wigs-cranial-prosthesis/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting in three randomized trials","route":"/key-papers/paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol/"}]}}