Abstract
For many years sexual problems induced by tumors have not been taken into account, but this topic is worth to be studied due to the significant impact on patients' quality of life. The type of tumor and related treatments can cause organic and anatomical changes, that may determine sexual dysfunctions, such as desire disorders, arousal disorders, orgasm disorders, and sexual pain. In addition there are psychosocial issues. The typical variables that may influence psychosocial issues are patients' age, gender, marital status, religious belief, support system, coping style, and knowledge about cancer. The majority of researches, to date, have evaluated the connection between sexuality and tumor in genitals and breast cancer. Whereas other types of cancers, such as brain tumor have been poorly studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible link between brain tumors and sexual dysfunctions, paying attention to their impact on overall quality of life and specifically on sex life. In this study 21 patients were involved. We used a semi-structured interview to investigate the possible presence of sexual dysfunction before and after brain tumor diagnosis. We also asked if they had received information about possible changes in their sexual functioning and about fertility. In addition, patients filled out various questionnaires such as Psychological Distress Inventory (PDI) for measuring distress level, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess of anxiety and depression levels, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 for measuring their quality of life and EORTC brain cancer module (QLQ-BN20). We also used Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to explore cognitive function. The sample consisted of 52% men and 48% women. The average age was 45 years (s.d.= 10.7). Seventy-six percent of patients have a high grade brain tumor and the most representative diagnosis was Glioblastoma. Seventy-one percent of patients reported sexual dysfunctions after the onset of tumor and related treatments. It was mainly found a high rate of desire disorders (72%). Patients experienced lower rate of arousal disorders (43%), such as orgasm disorders (9%) and sexual pain (14%). Seventy-two percent of patients were not informed about possible changes in their sex lives and 66% stated that they would like to receive this information by a doctor. In addition, 33% of patients among those under 45 years old reported their desire of having kids. Only 38% of patients reported that they had information about the possibility that therapies may alter normal fertility and only 19% was informed about fertility preservation treatments. These results show an important impact of brain tumor on patients' sex life. Moreover, this study underlines that information about fertility and assisted reproduction possibilities are really poor and need to be improved.
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