The prevention of taxane-related toxicities at the extremities is highly important for patients' treatment and quality-of-life. Unlike standard cryotherapy with frozen gloves, hilotherapy produces cooling at a constant temperature. Comparative data with frozen gloves are unavailable. This prospective self-controlled study explores the efficacy of hilotherapy at the right hand and foot compared to frozen gloves at the left in patients with early breast cancer treated with weekly paclitaxel 80 mg/m² or three-weekly docetaxel 75 mg/m².

Inclusion criteria:

• adult (≥18 years) patients with breast cancer
• treated with weekly paclitaxel 80 mg/m² (12 cycles) or three-weekly docetaxel 75 mg/m² (4 or 6 cycles) in an adjuvant or neo-adjuvant setting.

Exclusion criteria:

• peripheral neuropathy or pain in the extremities at baseline, regardless of whether this was related to a prior chemotherapy treatment or another condition
• Raynaud's phenomenon, cold intolerance or any condition to the nails or peripheral blood vessels that could pose a risk to the compliance with the study interventions
• insufficient understanding of the Dutch language for self-reporting the side-effects under investigation

Patients were excluded from the analysis if they received less than two thirds of planned treatment cycles, for other reasons than the side-effects investigated in this study.