Assessing sexual function and dysfunction in Turkish women undergoing surgical breast cancer treatment

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences between Turkish women undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction and those undergoing breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or mastectomy alone.

The sample of the study, which was designed as a descriptive and regressional one, consisted of a total of 100 female patients, 33 undergoing BCS, 34 undergoing postmastectomy breast reconstruction, and 33 undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer, between 2008 and 2012. Data were collected through an individual characteristics form and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI).

The comparison of the type of surgical procedure and the mean FSFI scores for the subscales of desire, arousal, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain, and the mean total FSFI scores revealed a statistically significant difference in favor of postmastectomy breast reconstruction and BCS (P < 0.05). When the authors evaluated the effects of age and surgical procedure type from the risk factors associated with total FSFI score classification by the logistic regression analysis, variations of age and surgical procedure type were found significant in the authors' model (P < 0.05). Age and surgical procedure type were independent risk factors effective on the total FSFI score of less than 26.55.

In this study, based on the mean total FSFI scores of women, it was concluded that postmastectomy breast reconstruction had positive effects on sexual lives of Turkish women with breast cancer, that more satisfactory outcomes were obtained in those undergoing BCS, that mastectomy had negative effects on sexual function, thus leading to sexual dysfunction, and that age was negatively associated with sexual functions.