Importance of quality decision making in breast cancer patients’ resilience
Importance of quality decision making in breast cancer patients’ resilience

Summary/Abstract: Breast cancer diagnosis accompanies the shock of fatal potential with the pressure of optimal treatment choice. For most women with incipient malignancy, the surgery options are radical mastectomy and conservative surgery. While generally the scientific literature tends to recommend the second option for being less invasive and traumatic for patients, results describing psychological outcomes are still controversial in their complexity. The present study aims to explore the differences in post‑treatment psychological reactions between patients who underwent radical versus conservative surgery and to assess the relationship between quality of life and posttraumatic symptoms in patients treated for breast cancer. Sixty two patients took part in the study. We also used a control group with similar characteristics. Contrary to previous studies, women with radical mastectomy show higher quality of life compared to women with conservative surgery and similar results as the control group. There is no difference between the two oncology groups in intensity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. They both score higher than the control group. Higher intensity of posttraumatic stress symptoms is associated to a lower quality of life. Quality of information, decision regret and fear of recurrence are some of the factors that could explain the conflicting results. The complex ethical issues involved in an optimal informed consent are discussed. Further research is needed to clarify the impact of different types of surgical treatments on patients’ resilience.

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