[Sexuality following radical operations].

In a retrospective study to evaluate the sexuality of patients after radical surgery for cervical cancer, we interviewed with a standardized questionnaire 87 women who had undergone radical abdominal (N = 76) or radical vaginal (N = 11) hysterectomy between 1971 and 1985. Apart from employment and partnership, we assessed sexual behaviour as reflected by frequency of coitus, libido, and orgasm. The patients were questioned about each aspect preoperatively before knowing the diagnosis, post-operatively after the immediate effects of surgery had passed, and at the time of the interview. 6.6% of the women could be considered invalids. There was a clear decrease in frequency of coitus and an anxiety-related decrease of libido. However, the number of patients without sexual activity was not statistically different from that in an age-matched group of women who did not undergo surgery. 4.5% of partnerships broke up as an immediate consequence of the surgery. Only 20% of the patients felt they had been adequately informed of possible sexual consequences of treatment by the surgeon.