title: The role of stress factors in the postoperative course of patients with rectal cancer.
abstract: The authors studied 82 patients with rectal cancer who underwent radical surgical treatment at the N.N. Petrov Oncological Research Institute of the Ministry of Health of the USSR in 1974-1975. They defined the markedness of patients' psychogenic disturbances in the pre- and postoperative period and measured the level of catecholamines in urine and that of 11-oxycorticosteroids in blood. The findings showed the highest frequency of postoperative complications (68%) in the group of patients who evidenced severe psychic reactions when they were admitted to the clinic. These data correlated with a higher level of catecholamines in the urine and of 11-oxycorticosteroids in the blood before surgery, and with a marked decrease of catecholamine excretion on the sixth day after the operation. This may indicate sympathetic-adrenal system exhaustion and play a certain part in the development of postoperative complications.
mesh_terms: D015062:11-Hydroxycorticosteroids / Q000097:blood; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery / Q000652:urine; D013315:Stress, Psychological
chemical_list: D015062:11-Hydroxycorticosteroids; D002395:Catecholamines