Gundersen Health System using new technology to prevent chemotherapy hair loss

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) - Gundersen Health System is using a new method to help chemotherapy patients keep their hair.

Gundersen is now using the DigniCap Scalp Cooling System to prevent hair loss that occurs from chemotherapy treatment.

Dr. Leah Dietrich says Gundersen has been looking for ways to halt hair loss for many years, and settled on the DigniCap method after extensive research on the system.

“It cools the scalp, and that constricts the blood vessels in the scalp,” Dietrich explained. “As the chemotherapy is being distributed throughout the body, there’s less chemotherapy that reaches the scalp, and that helps prevent hair loss.”

The FDA cleared DigniCap in 2015, and provided its developers with an expanded clearance in 2017.

DigniCap can be used by patients receiving chemotherapy to treat solid tumors from breast, prostate, ovarian, uterine, and lung cancer.

Gundersen used DigniCap on its first patient last week, and it will now be available to all eligible chemotherapy patients moving forward.

Dietrich says patients wear DigniCap for 30 minutes before their chemotherapy session, during the treatment, and 1-3 hours afterward.

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