Impact of Mastectomy on the Quality of Life (Qol) of Breast Cancer Survivor Patients

Aim: To assess the quality of Life in patients who had undergone mastectomy for Breast cancer. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted in the Out Patient of General Surgery Department at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad from 01st June to 31st December 2019. Written informed consent was obtained from participants and questionnaire was used to assess physical, psychological, social and spiritual well being along with the bio data of the patient. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 Results: A total of 166 female participants with a mean age of 54.65 +/- 6.291 years were included. Most were married (97.6%) and were housewives (93.9%). One hundred and fourteen participants were diagnosed at stage 3 of the disease and vast majority received chemotherapy along with mastectomy. Good physical well being was reported by most with a mean score of 63.45 +/- 9.64. There was a moderate psychological score for most patients with a mean score of 43.05 +/- 7.03. High levels of personal distress and family distress were noticed. Spiritual wellbeing was moderate (mean value 47.15 +/- 6.27) with 39.2% participants reporting drastic changes in their spiritual life. High future uncertainty and massive financial burden was also reported. There was significant correlation between duration since treatment and physical wellbeing of the participants (p=0.003). However no significant correlation was found between stage of carcinoma and extent of fearfulness of future diagnostic tests.