Association Between Alopecia and Response to Chemotherapy in Patients With Hodgkin Lymphoma. Elis A, Blickstein D, Manor Y, Lishner M. From the *Departments of Medicine and Hematology, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel; and daggerDivision of Hematology, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Petach-Tikva, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Alopecia and bone marrow suppression are prominent effects of doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy. The aim of the study was to validate our preliminary clinical observation that the lack of alopecia in Hodgkin lymphoma patients may predict poor response to chemotherapy and low rate of bone marrow suppression. Sixty-six patients with Hodgkin lymphoma were reviewed. They were treated between 1991 and 2001 with at least 4 courses of doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy (MOPP/ABV or ABVD) in 2 university-affiliated hematology departments. Thirty-four patients exhibited complete or near complete alopecia, and 32 retained their hair or had only minimal hair loss. The 2 groups were compared by response to treatment and episodes of bone marrow suppression. Alopecia was associated with a high rate of remission (OR 8.48, 95% CI 2.77-25.95), episodes of neutropenia (OR 3.55, 95% CI 1.28-9.84), leukopenia (OR 1.83, 95% CI 0.68-4.92), delays in scheduled treatments (OR 1.61, 95% CI 0.607-4.30), or number of courses with dose reduction (OR 1.63, 95% CI 0.56-4.74). Significantly more patients with alopecia had at least 1 of these parameters (88% versus 62%, P = 0.015; OR 4.50, 95% CI 1.27-15.94). In conclusion, in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma treated with doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy, the absence of alopecia may predict poor response to treatment along with fewer episodes of bone marrow suppression. The absence of alopecia in such patients should alert clinicians to the possibility of treatment failure. PMID: 15905797 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Ther Drug Monit. 2005 Jun;27(3):287-289. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.