Diferencias psicológicas en pacientes con cáncer de mama según el tipo de cirugía mamaria

Abstract

Breast cancer patients could experiment an important reduction in psychological adjustment due to mastectomy. So, breast reconstruction is considered a procedure to reverse the sequels of breast mastectomy. Two groups were evaluated in order to determine if anxiety and depression symptoms, coping style and quality of life in breast cancer patients are different for each kind of patient, according to the type of surgery (mastectomy or breast reconstruction). A first group was made up of 36 patients with breast cancer who had undergone unilateral mastectomy (simple or modified radical) and the second group was formed by 36 patients with breast reconstruction postmastectomy (immediate or delayed). This study used a psychosocial survey, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (MAC), and The EORTC QLQ-C30 for the evaluation. In general, mastectomy patients showed higher symptoms of anxiety and depression than the breast reconstruction patients. In the same way, breast reconstruction patients develops more effective coping strategies and reports better quality of life than breast mastectomy patients.