Study on Anagen effluvium - common side effect of chemotherapy

Jun 26 2007

A new study published in the journal Dermatology shows that hair loss through anagen effluvium induced by chemotherapy manifests in patterns.

Specific scalp areas were shown to be resistant to chemotherapy, a fact not previously reported.

Anagen effluvium is a common side effect of chemotherapy, but few studies have examined its clinical characteristics. It is a type of hair loss that is characterized by hair breakage rather than hair loss.

Sixty-four patients with anagen effluvium were evaluated in this study. Chemotherapeutic agents were classified into 5 different groups. The pattern of hair loss was analyzed when specific involvement of the hairline was obvious.

Forty-six (71.9%) of the 64 total patients maintained hairs along their hairline. Hairs were maintained with a total hairline in 20 (31.3%), frontal hairline in 13 (20.3%) and occipital hairline in 12 (18.8%) patients. Among the 20 males with patterned hair loss, the following hairlines were preserved: occipital in 10 (50%), total in 7 (35%) and frontal in 3 (15%). Among the 25 females with patterned hair loss, hairlines were preserved as total in 13 (52%), frontal in 10 (40%) and occipital in 2 (8%). However, no significant differences were detected in hair loss patterns according to age, associated symptoms, chemotherapeutic agent group or combination of chemotherapeutic agents.