Sexuality and quality of life after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
BACKGROUND
The quality of sexuality is significantly affected by physical changes following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and the dissatisfied and/or dysfunctional sexuality may cause deterioration in the quality of life (QOL).


METHODS
With two models of questionnaires, we interviewed thirty-eight patients who remained in the disease-free status after HSCT and had sex partners, to assess: 1) the changes in sexuality, 2) QOL in physical, psychological, social and spiritual domains and 3) the correlation between sexuality and QOL.


RESULTS
The common physical changes that may affect sexuality in women were secondary amenorrhea (69.2%), loss of sexual interest (53.8%), diminished vaginal secretion (50%), menopausal syndrome (34.6%), dyspareunia (30.8%) and failure to orgasm (23.1%), while men complained of impotence (41.7%) and difficulty in ejaculation (16.7%). For sexuality, satisfaction of sexual activity, attainment of orgasm and frequency of intercourse decreased significantly after HSCT as compared with the pre-transplant levels. A score measuring, QOL after HSCT marked 5.91 on a full score of 10; social domain ranked the lowest (5.01) while physical domain the highest (6.70). Among the items of sexuality, only sexual desire was significantly correlated with QOL; satisfaction, orgasm and frequency were not significantly correlated with QOL.


CONCLUSIONS
Although sexuality is affected by the physical changes following HSCT, we should not overlook the psychological and social effects on the sexuality of post-transplant patients. Therefore, educational and counseling programs are very important to restore and improve their sexuality.
Lee
Hong Ghi
HG
Departments of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University College of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-Dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
Park
Eun Young
EY
Kim
Hyun Mee
HM
Kim
Kihyun
K
Kim
Won Seog
WS
Yoon
Sung Soo
SS
Kang
Won Ki
WK
Park
Keun Chil
KC
Park
Chan Hyung
CH
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000209:etiology*; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires