Anticancer chemotherapy accelerates scalp hair loss with no androgenic involvement

The involvement of plasma testosterone in patients associated with scalp hair loss accelerated by anticancer drugs including aclarubicin and cisplatin was investigated. Scalp hair loss observed was minor in 12 and severe in 2 out of 31 patients. In patients without significant hair loss, the combination of aclarubicin and cisplatin produced a significant decrease in the plasma testosterone concentration in male patients and a significant increase in female patients 3 days after the anticancer chemotherapy. Six days after the chemotherapy, however, these concentrations returned to pretreatment values. Similar changes were observed in patients with minor or severe scalp hair loss induced by these drugs. These results suggest that aclarubicin and/or cisplatin may accelerate scalp hair loss with no androgenic involvement.