Suddenly, intense and often accompanied by sweats and redness, heat puffs concern up to 80 % of women in perimenopause. But they also affect patients treated for hormone-dependent cancers, such as those in the breast or the prostate. Beyond discomfort, these symptoms disrupt sleep, reduce cognitive capacities and greatly degrade the quality of life. In some patients, they even compromise adherence to treatment. How to relieve them therefore represents a double issue.
Few satisfactory alternatives
In the event of heat puffs linked to menopause, the hormonal substitute treatment remains the most effective, it is formally contraindicated for certain patients such as those treated for cancers. The other available solutions, called non -hormonal, have the disadvantage of often provoking marked undesirable effects.
Nothing perfectly satisfactory in itself. “”It is urgent to find safe and accessible alternatives “underlines Professor Michael F. Holick, of the University of Boston, co-author of a study published in Endocrinology and diabetes.
This has set up the use of refreshing bracelets, which have the advantage of quickly reducing the feeling of heat.
A conclusive handle test
To explore this track, the researchers conducted a clinical trial with 27 volunteers: post-menopausal women as well as patients treated for breast or prostate cancer. For two weeks, all carried a bracelet diffusing on command of the cold on the wrist.
Why the wrist? Because this area is rich in nerve endings.“Its cooling sends a signal to the hypothalamus, which receives the information as if the whole body was refreshing”, explains Professor Holick. This mechanism would prevent the trigger for the vasomotor response responsible for hot flashes.
© Endocrinology and Diabetes
Advanced wrist cooling device.
And the published results are encouraging: the frequency of severe heat puffs dropped on average by 46 %. In women with breast cancer, the decline reaches 41 %, and climbs up to 50 % for men followed for prostate cancer and menopausal women.
A simple way to play on the intensity of the puff
For the gynecologist Dr Odile Bagot, member of our Committee of Experts, these results are to be qualified, but remain promising:
“What is interesting is that this bracelet acts mainly on the intensity. Severe hot flashes decrease by half, the moderate by a third, but the mild increases, because they take the place of the strongest. Overall, the total number of puffs drops only by 18 %, but their intensity really decreases” she analyzes.
In other words, the effect of the device results in a switch: the most disabling crises become more bearable. A very good point.
A safe alternative to medication
The absence of side effects is another key point. “It is also very interesting, because, obviously, there is no risk and that it is usable in women who have a contraindication to hormonal treatments“, Underlines Dr. Bagot. She even compares this bracelet with recently marketed non -hormonal treatments:
“The fezolinent, for example, has just been released, but it presents significant hepatic toxicity. It requires biological follow -up for three months, for an almost equivalent efficiency. In comparison, the bracelet is safe, effective and without constraint” hears our expert.
The approach is promising, but still experimental
This work does not mark the first attempt to use the wrist to counter these symptoms. Already in 2023, an American team had tested a connected watch type device, associated with an algorithm capable of detecting the imminent arrival of a puff and automatically triggering a cold jet.
For the time being, the bracelet studied by the Boston team is only at the test stadium. But its first results paved the way for a non -invasive, personalized and safe approach to relieve a disorder still too often trivialized.