Malignancies that
affect females who survive cancer commonly originate in, invade, and/or
metastasize to the sexual organs, including the ovaries, uterine corpus,
uterine cervix, vagina, vulva, fallopian tubes, anus, rectum, breast(s), and
brain. Females comprise most of the population (in number and proportion) with
cancers that directly affect the sexual organs. Most females in the age groups
most commonly affected by cancer are sexually active in the year before
diagnosis, which includes most menopausal women who have a partner.
Among
female cancer survivors, the vast majority have cancers that are treated with
local or systemic therapies that result in removal, compromise, or destruction
of the sexual organs. Additionally, female cancer survivors often experience
abrupt or premature onset of menopause, either directly with surgery,
radiation, or other treatments or indirectly through disruption of female sex
hormone or other neuroendocrine physiology.
For many female patients, cancer
treatment has short-term and long-lasting effects on other aspects of physical,
psychological, and social functioning that can interfere with normal sexual
function; these effects include pain, depression, and anxiety; fatigue and
sleep disruption; changes in weight and body image; scars, loss of normal skin
sensation, and other skin changes; changes in bodily odors; ostomies and loss
of normal bowel and bladder function; lymphedema, and strained intimate
partnerships and other changes in social roles.
In spite of these facts, female
patients who are treated for cancer receive insufficient counseling, support,
or treatment to preserve or regain sexual function after cancer treatment.
Below: Interactive biopsychosocial
model of sexuality
Interactive Biopsychosocial Model of sexuality in the
context of cancer, with examples in each domain that influence sexuality.
Full article at: http://goo.gl/bL4EDW
By:
Departments of
Obstetrics and Gynecology (Dr Lindau, Ms Abramsohn, and Ms Matthews, https://obgyn.uchicago.edu/) and
Medicine-Geriatrics (Dr Lindau), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Corresponding author: Stacy Tessler Lindau, MD, MAPP. Email: ude.ogacihcu@uadnils
Published online 2015 Mar 25. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2015.03.039
More at: https://twitter.com/hiv
insight
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