Anxiety experienced by oncological patients who undergo ¹⁸F-FDG PET CT: A systematic review

Anxiety is an emotional reaction often experienced by patients who undergo Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) with 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG). This systematic review aimed to summarise the evidence currently available considering the anxiety experienced by adult oncological patients concerning pre and post ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT examination and the factors contributing to anxiety.

A systematic review search of CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus and Web Science databases and other manual search sources, was conducted from November to February 2021. The research included articles published from January 2000 to December 2020. It included quantitative studies, which analysed the anxiety experienced by oncological patients who had undergone ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT.

Ten articles met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. The studies selected were published between 2011 and 2020 and carried out in five countries. Anxiety experienced by patients was evaluated at the various stages of the ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT, eight studies assessed it in the pre-examination, seven studies in the post-examination and five studies at both times. Four main anxiety factors were found: patients' clinical situation, first-time patients' examination, scan procedure, and patients concern with the examination result.

Moderate to high levels of anxiety are present in most of the patients who undergo the examination. This review also highlights several factors related to the anxiety levels through different procedure moments.

The results of this research will allow health professionals to adjust non-pharmacological strategies to decrease anxiety levels in oncological patients undergoing ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT.