pathtalk.org is a weblog about pathology and laboratory medicine.

Biopsy Anxiety

One of my colleagues just pointed out this interesting post from the New York Times Well Blog. It’s a commentary on a recent paper published in the journal Radiology which followed cortisol levels of women waiting for breast biopsy results. Predictably, they found that waiting and uncertainty was correlated with higher cortisol levels. From the New York Times article:

Women who were still uncertain about their diagnosis had abnormal cortisol levels that were “essentially indistinguishable’’ from the cortisol profiles of the women who were told they had cancer. And women without a diagnosis had significantly worse cortisol profiles compared to women who had received benign test results.

The comments on this post are very interesting. There is surprisingly little mention of the role pathologists play in the process, though two pathologists do weigh in in the comments. To me, it seems that, for better or for worse, we are flying under the radar in terms of public understanding of the diagnostic process.

good comment, is true, the pathologist is the big stronger of the medical specialities for the patient…..our job is very hard to understand for the public in general.But we love so much our profession that is enough with this.
from europe,
a young pathologist