When cancerophobia and denial lead to death

The belief that cancer inevitably leads to a dreadful and painful death is widespread. This may contribute to society's cancerophobia and denial with subsequent frequent delays in seeking medical attention and treatment for suspected cancer. Cancerophobia is an active behavior of fear of cancer that can lead to repeated medical examination without giving full reassurance to the patient. Denial is a mechanism of defense that usually helps the patient to cope with painful, threatening, overwhelming, or awkward thoughts. When it turns out to be ineffective and pathological, it can cause either delay or avoidance in seeking treatment for symptoms relevant for a true malignancy and will lead inexorably to death if not cured.

To illustrate this, we report the case of a 62-year-old woman who died of massive concealed ovarian cancer, straightaway at a palliative stage, who always had a persistent denial of her medical condition and a past history of cancerophobia.

With this case report, we would like to point out that supportive or palliative care staff should pay attention to this lethal behavior.

Some brief recommendations to deal with this specific problematic are outlined.