title: Oncological Patient Anxiety in Imaging Studies: the PET/CT Example.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective perception of anxiety pre- and post-procedure, and explore the relationship between demographic, clinical variables and cancer patients' anxiety during a positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan. Two hundred and thirty-two oncological out patients, with clinical indication for performing an18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT scan and attending a nuclear medicine (NM) department, participated in the study. Patients' anxiety and subjective experience of PET/CT were examined using two self-report questionnaires. The pre-procedure questionnaire focused on demographic information, level of knowledge regarding the scan and subjective perception of anxiety before the procedure. The post-procedure questionnaire included the subjective perception anxiety after the procedure, information adequacy and satisfaction with the NM department. The self-reported data indicate that patients were anxious during PET/CT. Furthermore, our data revealed a significant difference between the anxiety pre-procedure and post-procedure (z = -3909, p < 0.05), in which the anxiety pre-procedure has significantly higher values. No significant correlation was found between anxiety and age of the patients, education levels, adequacy of information or satisfaction with the NM Department. Perception of anxiety post-procedure differs between gender (U = 5641, p = 0.033). In conclusion, PET/CT generated anxiety levels in oncological patients, especially before the procedure. Although patients seemed to be satisfied with information delivered by staff and with the NM Department, attention has to be focused on effective interventions strategies that help patients to reduce anxiety.
authors.affiliation: King's College London & Guy's and St. Thomas' PET Centre, St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7EH, London, UK. carla.abreu@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abreu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Scientific Area of Psychology, Higher School of Health Technology, Polytechnical Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, Av. Dom João II Lote 4.69.01, 1990-096, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grilo
authors.affiliation: Scientific Area of Nuclear Medicine, Higher School of Health Technology, Polytechnical Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, Av. Dom João II Lote 4.69.01, 1990-096, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Filipa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lucena
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural and Exact Sciences, Area of Mathematics, Higher School of Health Technology, Polytechnical Institute of Lisbon, Portugal, Av. Dom João II Lote 4.69.01, 1990-096, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Elisabete
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carolino
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000072078:Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; D018787:Radiation Oncology; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
keywords: Anxiety; Oncology; Patient perspective; Positron emission tomography