Rebecca Badawi¹, Lina El Murr², Zeina Morcos¹ and Georges El Hachem³*

¹Internal Medicine Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon

*Corresponding Author: Georges El Hachem, Hematologist and Medical Oncologist, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Saint George Hospital University Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Balamand, Lebanon.

Received: October 18, 2021; Published: November 18, 2021

Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer related mortality in women. With the advances in treatment and the wide prominence of screening, it has also become the most prevalent cancer. Treatment has mainly been guided by the stage of the disease and the receptors that are expressed by it. Treatment approaches include systemic chemotherapy, surgery with axillary lymph node dissection, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy however not without the cost of physical and psychological drawbacks. 

Besides the gastrointestinal side effects and the alopecia related to cancer drugs, women undergoing chemotherapy experience chronic somatic, mood and cognitive changes. Breast surgeries, with or without reconstruction and axillary lymph node dissection, create an irreversible scar not only on the woman's body but also on her psyche. Hormonal imbalances due to chemo or endocrine therapy further exacerbates debilitating physical menopausal-like side effects, fertility troubles and sexual dysfunction. Adding all those psychological and emotional stressors to the physical side effects of treatment has detrimental effects on the woman’s femininity and her perception of her own body. Improvement in breast cancer treatment increased the survival rate, but it was at the expense of the psychological status of the women and their quality of life. 

Keywords: Breast Cancer; Psychosocial; Treatment Side Effects; Mental Health; Quality of Life

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Citation

Citation: Georges El Hachem., et al. “When Breast Cancer Hits, Women Hit Stronger". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 5.12 (2021): 122-129.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Georges El Hachem., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.