Waiting For Breast Biopsy Results?
Sun, March 22, 2009 at 02:00AM Those days - 2, 4, 6, or longer – spent waiting to hear the results of your breast biopsy can produce a stress response equivalent to getting a diagnosis of breast cancer. In other words, you fear the worst result, 100%. This was the finding of a study posted in the journal Radiology.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School followed 126 women who had had a breast biopsy. Their levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, was measured in their saliva, 4 times a day for 5 days.
The women were classified into 3 groups at the end of the 5th day: those who hadn’t received a final diagnosis (“uncertain” group), those who knew they had cancer (“malignant” group), and those who knew they had benign disease (“benign” group). There were 16 patients in the malignant group, 37 in the benign group, and 73 in the uncertain group.
The cortisol levels in the uncertain group were essentially indistinguishable from those in the malignant group, and were significantly higher than those in the benign group. In other words, the stress that women sustained while waiting for definitive results from a breast biopsy was as great as that produced by a diagnosis of a malignant cancer. Such stress can influence wound healing and immune response, especially undesirable effects if the final result is, indeed, a malignancy. The answer? Hospitals should do what they can to shorten the waiting period for test results, and improve communication with patients who are waiting. And consider offering psychological aid to patients during the waiting period.
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