LAUSR

Objectives Gynaecological malignancies represent 11.3% of cancers in women in Tunisia. Currently, cancer is considered a chronic disease. Assessing the impact of cancer occurrence and its treatment on female sexuality often involves communication difficulties between the patient and the health care team. The purpose of this work was to: Determine female sexual dysfunction in patients treated for pelvic gynecologic cancer. Plan an early sexual rehabilitation program for such patients. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was conducted over a four-month period, from February 1st, 2017 to June 30th, 2017 at Salah Azaiez Institute. Results The median age was 47.6 years. Half of our patients were housewives. The illiteracy rate was 36.7%. The average duration of the marriage was 26.7 years. Cervical cancer was the most common type (40%). Chemotherapy was performed in 60% of patients, while radiotherapy was performed in 70% of patients. Stage II was the most common (70%). Patients already had sexual dysfunction prior to cancer diagnosis with Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) of 25. Impairment in sexual function affecting all components of the FSFI index was observed with a statistically significant p. Predictors of sexual dysfunction after gynecologic cancer were age, level of education, duration of marriage, occupation, type of disease, and administration of chemotherapy. Conclusions Sexuality after cancer affecting the female genital area is altered, age >50 years, illiteracy, length of marriage > 20 years as well as endometrial, vulva and vaginal cancers were predictive factors of sexual dysfunction.