DOI: 10.5176/2315-4330_WNC18.64
Authors: Dr.N.Gayathri Priya
Abstract:
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer in women. According to American Cancer Society (2013) among every eight women,one is diagnosed to have breast cancer and there were 39,620 deaths in US from breast cancer in 2013 alone. Breast cancer has been the cause of about 17% of deaths from cancer and it is the second leading cause of death cancer after lung cancer.The effect of breast cancer and its treatments such as mastectomy on a woman includes psychological discomfort, especially mood disorders, depression, anxiety, anger, fear about the body image, andin general its influence on the quality of life which is greatly reduced after breast surgery.Unrecognized psychological morbidity can impair the quality of life of a woman. This psychological morbidity may be reduced by open communication, encouragement,expression of feelings, preoperative diagnosis of cancer,biopsy, and more time allowance before surgery is needed.Health related QOL is now considered an important end point in cancer clinical trials. Assessing QOL in cancer patients could contribute to improve treatment and be prognostic in all the spheres of their life .Studies of QOL can further indicate the directions needed for more efficient treatment of cancer patients.The time of diagnosis, initial stage of adjuvant treatment course and the months immediately following the end of adjuvant treatment are the transition times of poor adjustment and decreased QOL in breast cancer patients. Montazeri.et.al.,(2008) revealed decreased health related QOL as a result of chemotherapy side effects which may predict early discontinuation of treatment in patients with breast cancer. The studies on post- treatment adjustment of breast cancer survivors demonstrated that breast cancer patients might enjoy a good QOL.
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