Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 3, 1117-1126, Copyright © 1985 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
Curative testis cancer therapy: psychosocial sequelae
PP Rieker, SD Edbril and MB Garnick
We examined the long-term impact of advanced testis cancer and its curative
therapies on emotional states and outlook on life, employment, intimate
relationships, and sexual function. The sample consisted of 74
nonseminomatous and seminomatous tumor patients who had completed treatment
two to ten years ago. The majority of men felt that surviving the
debilitating treatment(s) was both an accomplishment and worthwhile
trade-off. Neither the rate of unemployment (7%) nor divorce (10%) was
remarkable. The most critical outcome was in the area of sexual
functioning. One fourth to one half of the men reported some type of sexual
impairment. Multiple regression results indicate that ejaculatory
dysfunction, a side effect of the retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, is
significantly associated with distress about both infertility and sexual
impairment. Men with sexual impairment report more psychological symptoms,
strained intimate relationships, and negative changes in other areas of
life functioning. These data, while not definitive, suggest that there are
delayed effects and that the subgroup of men, who are least likely to
disclose these problems to physicians, are at greater risk for the
deleterious outcomes.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
