Description

Docetaxel belongs to the taxane group of
chemotherapy agents. Taxanes work by disrupting
the microtubule network essential for mitosis and
interphase cellular function. It is one of the most
important classes of chemotherapeutic drugs
effective against a variety of solid tumours including
breast cancer and metastatic prostate cancer.
One of the commonest side effect that affects as
high as 44%1 of patients on taxane is nail changes which
may include discolouration, brittle nail, acute
paronychia and onycholysis. The physiopathology of
nail toxicity is unknown. Several studies have suggested
this could be due to antiangiogenetic properties of
taxanes2 while others proposed the existence of a
neurogenically mediated inflammatory process.3
Cold treatment of the scalp is a recognized
treatment for chemotherapy-induced alopecia by
causing a cold-induced vasoconstriction, thus
reducing the amount of drug reaching the hair
follicles as well as a decrease in follicular
metabolism.4 Using the same concept, we report a
case of using cold water to cool the fingers to reduce
Docetaxel related nail toxicity.