Cooling caps for chemotherapy patients

As a trillion-ton iceberg calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on Antarctica, scientists warned that 90 percent of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula are starting to disintegrate. That has far-reaching repercussions for everything from sea levels to temperature and rain cycles around the globe.

Better news about ice caps is always welcome, and the Food and Drug Administration made an announcement recently that should cheer folks undergoing certain types of chemo. Ice caps — they’re really called cooling caps — have been approved for expanded use. Originally OK’D for breast cancer patients, they now can be used to prevent hair loss by anyone undergoing chemotherapy for a solid tumor. They’re highly effective 50 to 65 percent of the time.

The computer-controlled system circulates a cool gel (-15 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit) through a cap that’s placed on your head. It helps prevents hair loss by constricting blood vessels in the scalp, reducing the amount of chemotherapy that reaches the hair follicles. The FDA says, “The risk of the chemotherapy drug missing an isolated grouping of the cancer cells in the scalp because of the cooling cap is rare.”

So if you are headed for chemo, talk with your oncologist to determine if it makes sense for you to cool your cap or not.

Be a red-blooded patriot — donate

Giving blood to people who need it is an essential part of modern medicine. The first documented vascular transfusion came in 1667, when a doctor in the court of King Louis XIV transfused the blood of a sheep into a 15-year-old boy. Believe it or not, the boy survived.

Today, in the U.S., nearly 21 million portions of blood components — whole blood, red blood cells, plasma, cryoprecipitate or platelets — are transfused every year. Unfortunately, there are times when life-saving blood is in short supply. LIKE RIGHT NOW. The Red Cross says that it now has a 61,000-unit deficit.

So, if you have never donated blood, now’s the time. It is safe, fast and without negative repercussions.

■ You will be interviewed to discover if there is any reason you are not a candidate.

■ You cannot contract a disease giving blood to the Red Cross.

■ You can spare the blood; your body quickly replenishes what’s taken.

Interested? Search by ZIP code at www.redcrossblood. org to find your local donation site. Donate today and save a life tomorrow.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.