DIFFICULTIES FACED BY WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER: FROM DIAGNOSIS TO TREATMENT

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the difficulties encountered by women diagnosed with breast cancer. It is an integrative bibliographic review of the exploratory type. For this purpose, a search for publications on the VHL website, in the LILACS, Scielo and Pubmed databases was performed, by crossing the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS) interconnected by the Boolean operator AND, in the period from September to October 2020. The review was presented in a synoptic table, where discussions about the relevant literature on the subject were possible. It was found that there are several difficulties faced by patients who have breast cancer, ranging from taking the exams to trying to complete the diagnosis, including treatment, access to health services, professionals, personal, family and social suffering. In this sense, it can be concluded that the knowledge of the feelings experienced by women undergoing breast cancer treatment significantly helps in the actions to be implemented by health professionals, as well as serving as a foundation or improvement of public policies.

Keywords: Breast neoplasm. Cancer. Diagnosis. Treatment.