Psycho-social effects of radical surgery

Abstract

The following factors influence adaptation to neoplastic disease: ability to face stress; possibility of human support; feeling of being adequately treated. If the sum of these factors is negative, there will be a refusal of both the disease and the therapeutic treatment. In our Department an oncological patient, who must undergo radical surgery, leading to an eventual impairment of sexual activity and/or a change in the appearance of the body, is evaluated not only by the urologist but also by psychiatrists and psychologists. We refer to cases of patients who underwent urinary diversions (Carney II, Bricker, UCS), radical prostatectomies and operations for other types of tumours. We found the following to be fundamental: pre-operative talk with patients who have already undergone the same type of operation; explanation of operational methods, aims and possible complications, leaving no room for the patient's imagination and thus avoiding two elements which prevent post-operative recovery and adaptation - passivity and negativism.