Physicians Urged to Address Sexual Issues

A new report published in the British Medical Journal has found that a surprisingly low percentage of physicians discuss with their patients the impact that cancer and its treatment can have on intimacy and sexuality.

Dr. Maxine Stead of the Northern and Yorkshire Clinical Trials and Research Unit in Leeds and colleagues interviewed a group of women with ovarian cancer about how their disease affected their sexuality-and the counseling they received from their treating physicians.

The patients who participated in the survey expressed a general willingness for sexual issues to be discussed as part of their overall treatment program. However, only 20 percent of the women reported that such issues were broached by their physician.

Stead and her colleagues urged physicians and nurses to become much more proactive in discussing sexual issues with their patients. They emphasized that this problem is not limited to ovarian cancer patients, but is pervasive with many other cancers as well.

Misconceptions

Contrary to many patients' perceptions, sexual activity is usually safe during cancer treatment. There may be times when sex may be temporarily painful, or when a period of rest and recuperation from all activities may be called for. But in general, sexual intimacy can provide important emotional benefits throughout treatment and recovery.

Experts recommend that you be open and honest with your partner; hopefully your partner will be open and honest with you as well. Periods of time may pass where your desire for intimacy is subdued, followed by periods involving an intense need for intimacy. A little patience, a lot of communication, and an abundance of love can be especially important at this time in your life.

SOURCE:

British Medical Journal, October 13, 2001; 323:836-837

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