News/Commentary

By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor

The study below is about women’s biochemically-measured stress levels while awaiting the results of a breast biopsy.

The stress hormone involved, cortisol, also could “compromise” future treatment if the woman does have breast cancer.

Now that there is objective proof of the need for speedy findings, speedy medical action should follow.

This is one of the casual cruelties patients experience. “Yes, we know you are on pins and needles waiting to find out. We will get to you when we can.” In effect, that is what the health care delivery system says to patients. It should not be this way.

I would be willing to bet that if most of the patient groups tested for the “scariest” diagnoses were tested under this protocol, researchers would find higher levels of cortisol as well.

Waiting for test results can be hell for patients and families. Hell. Hell. Hell. I have seen the faces of waiting patients and families, struggling to maintain their composure as they wait to go in to hear the doctor tell them news which may change their lives—-the patient’s and their families’ lives. Hell is the only word that fits their plight.

Of course, patients do not want their tests rushed through so quickly, very subtle changes are missed.

There has to be a reasonable solution to this, one which provides both accuracy and compassion when reading tests for scary diagnoses.

These two outcomes, accuracy and compassion, are not mutually exclusive.

Still, breast cancer is a good place to begin.

We’re waiting.

HealthDay News

“What has been intuitively obvious to women for eons now has “real” scientific backing.

“Women who are waiting for results after a breast biopsy experience abnormalities in the levels of a stress hormone known as cortisol, a fact that might not only be damaging to overall health but might compromise future treatment if, in fact, the results come back positive.

“The findings, appearing in the March issue of Radiology, argue for faster relaying of results to patients.

“For a long time, there has been the recognition that women should find out sooner what they have, but there was just not much effort put into it,” said Dr. Elvira V. Lang, an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston and an author of the study.

“When women just say they’re stressed, there’s a tendency to put it aside as psychological. But once you can show there can be adverse effects on the immune system and on what the next steps are, particularly in women who may be diagnosed and women who have future interactions with the health-care system, then this gets a completely different light on it.”

“The medical community isn’t going to believe this until there’s some biochemical data,” she added.”

Source:  HealthDay News, February 24, 2009

Citation Source: Radiology, March, 2009