Re: Is cancer back? - psychological issues faced by survivors of breast cancer - Letter to the editor

Sep 30, 2026

Letter to the editor discussing the article “Is cancer back?—psychological issues faced by survivors of breast cancer.” The author comments on the reviewed evidence from PubMed, focusing on fear of recurrence, body image distrust, and the role of psychological interventions to enhance resilience and quality of life. It also calls for expanded clinical sampling to reduce bias, clearer article selection criteria and demographic diversity, and further investigation addressing quantitative limitations and the need for meta-analytic approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

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Letter to the Editor

Comments on the Original Article

Authors’ Contributions

Data Availability Statement

References

LETTER TO THE EDITOR [https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.20250628](https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.20250628) Re: Is cancer back? Psychological issues faced by survivors of breast cancer Ilker Sengul1,2* , Demet Sengul3 Dear Editor, Emendatiopars studiorum longe utilissima. A Deucalione, mastology remains an important issue in human beings1-8. We have read with great interest the article “Is cancer back?—psychological issues faced by survivors of breast cancer”9. Bergerot and colleagues9 purposed to investigate the multifaceted sentimental complexities faced by survivors, incorporating a variety of issues from fear of recurrence to body image distrustfulness, which underscores the compulsory support. The authors reviewed the information through the PubMed index with personal files and examined the risk factors contributing to augmented psychological distress with periods of sentimentality. Of note is that they negotiate and discourse psychological interventions to upgrade resilience and develop the quality of life of survivors. In addition, they also stressed the requirement for ongoing research on survival into the long-term psychological effects of cancer recurrence. Nevertheless, would more extensive sampling for the clinical studies, which might possibly eliminate bias, alter this valued work’s outcome(s)? Moreover, would it be convenient and suitable to emphasize the overt criteria for the article selection and demographic diversity of survivors studied for this work? Does a deficiency of quantitative data or meta-analyses, which might hinder the adroitness of comprehending the emotional confusion of the survivors, limit the tendency to generalize the relevant findings? This issue merits further investigation. We thank Bergerot et al.9 for their study on breast cancer survivors. AUTHORS’CONTRIBUTIONS IS: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. DS: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing–original draft, Writing – review & editing. DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. REFERENCES 1. Soares Júnior JM, Mota BS, Nobrega GB, Filassi JR, Sorpreso ICE, Baracat EC. Breast cancer survivals and hormone therapy: estrogen and melatonin. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) . 2023;69(10):e6910EDI. [https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-](https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-)[ ](https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-)[9282.6910EDI](9282.6910EDI) 2. Veiga ECA, Simões R, Valenti VE, Cipolla-Neto J, Abreu LC, Barros EPM, et al. Repercussions of melatonin on the risk of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) . 2019;65(5):699-705 . [https://doi](https://doi). org/10.1590/1806-9282.65.5.699 3. Soares Júnior JM, So rp reso IC, Baracat EC. Is hormone therapy during climacteric for all? Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992) . 2015;61(3):191-2 . [https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.61.03.191](https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.61.03.191) [4](4). Prokop J, Maršálek P, Sengul I, Pelikán A, Janoutová J, Horyl P, et al. Evaluation of breast stiffness pathology based on breast compression during mammography: proposal for novel breast stiffness scale classification. Clinics (Sao Paulo) . 2022;77:100100. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinsp.2022.100100](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinsp.2022.100100) [5](5). Rivas FWS, Gonçalves R, Mota BS, Sorpreso ICE, Toporcov TN, Filassi JR, et al. Comprehensive diagnosis of advancedstage breast cancer: exploring detection methods, molecular subtypes, and demographic influences-Across-sectional study. 1Giresun University, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Endocrine Surgery – Giresun, Turkey. 2Giresun University, F

FAQs

What is the main focus of the letter regarding breast cancer survivors?

The letter comments on psychological challenges faced by survivors, especially fear of recurrence and distrust related to body image, and discusses support needs highlighted by the original article.

What improvements does the letter suggest for the original study’s evidence base?

It asks for more extensive clinical sampling to reduce bias and for clearer emphasis on selection criteria and demographic diversity of studied survivors.

Why does the letter emphasize quantitative data and meta-analyses?

It argues that insufficient quantitative data or lack of meta-analyses may limit understanding of the survivors’ emotional complexity and reduce the ability to generalize the findings.

Sep 30, 2026

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