Abstract
IntroductionTomophobia refers to fear or anxiety caused by forthcoming surgical procedures and/or medical interventions.Case presentationWe present the case of a 69-year-old Caucasian man who refused urgently indicated medical intervention because of severe tomophobia.ConclusionDue to the rising number of surgical interventions in modern medicine, as well as the high number of unrecognised cases of tomophobia, this common but underdiagnosed anxiety disorder should be highlighted.
Highlights
Tomophobia refers to fear or anxiety caused by forthcoming surgical procedures and/or medical interventions.Case presentation: We present the case of a 69-year-old Caucasian man who refused urgently indicated medical intervention because of severe tomophobia
Phobic anxiety disorders are conceptualized as a diagnostic subclass within the anxiety disorders
We present the case of a 69year-old patient who was diagnosed with tomophobia for the first time
Summary
Phobia (Greek: phobos, fear) is defined as an irrational, intense and persistent sensation of fear in relation to specific situations, activities, objects or individuals. The patient was a 69-year-old Caucasian man without a history of mental illness or any previous psychiatric treatment He was initially transferred to a medical emergency department with marked dyspnoeic symptoms and tachycardia, where an acute coronary syndrome was diagnosed. At the end of the angiographic intervention, this information caused a severe panic reaction with hyperventilation, tachycardia and the feeling of loss of control, which was successfully treated with benzodiazepines He described an intensely irrational and unavoidable fear of putting himself in the hands of others -surgeons and anaesthetists in this case. The patient was relieved by the psychiatric admission and the understanding of his phobic fear He reported a 20year history of severe coxarthrosis, which caused serious pain and progressive leg deformation and malfunction, and which had never been operated on because of his fear of surgery. Behavioural psychotherapy as an out-patient treatment was recommended in order to diminish the patient's phobic fears
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