Familiarity, opinions, experiences and knowledge about scalp cooling: a Dutch survey among breast cancer patients and oncological professionals

OBJECTIVE: Scalp cooling (SC) is applied to reduce chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA). The aim of this study was to investigate patients’ familiarity and opinions and oncological professionals’ attitude and knowledge about SC in the Netherlands. METHODS: Ex breast cancer patients, nurses and medical oncologists (MDs) from SC and non-SC hospitals filled out questionnaires. RESULTS: The majority of MDs and nurses were satisfied with the results of SC, as were SC patients. Over 33% of MDs and nurses perceived their knowledge level insufficient to inform patients about effectiveness, which was over 43% for information about safety. MDs main reason to not apply SC was doubt about effectiveness and safety. Nurses generally offered SC to a minority of eligible patients. Patients were frequently unfamiliar with SC before diagnosis. Seventy percent of SC patients with insufficient results (20/52) reported to mind it very much. With expected success rates of 35% and 50%, respectively, 36% and 54% of patients would use SC again. CONCLUSION: Room for improvement has been shown for both patients’ familiarity and oncological professionals’ knowledge about SC. Sharing knowledge about results, safety and patients’ experiences will improve patient counseling and SC availability. The results of this survey led to the development of a national standard on CIA and SC.