Features of the psychosomatic state in lung cancer patients and psychopathophysiological aspects of cardiovascular diseases

Aim The aim hereof is a comprehensive study of the mental, adaptive and hormonal status in patients with lung cancer with varying prevalence of the malignant process. The obtained results are compared with data on the psychosomatic state and subclinical disorders in the thyroid system in patients with cardiovascular diseases. Materials and methods The characteristics of general non-specific adaptation reactions by the organism (AR), the level of personal and situational anxiety, the severity of depression, and the reactions to the disease are studied in 28 lung cancer patients with resectable and unresectable tumors. The “Antistress” expert software is used for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of AR. The level of the adrenocortical and thyroid axis hormones in blood serum is studied in patients with resectable tumors. Results The relationship between the AR characteristics and the malignant process prevalence, a decrease in the ACTH concentration, an elevated level of cortisol and thyroxine are noted. The mental status has been characterized by non-depressiveness and dominance of the euphoric reaction to the disease. In patients with resectable tumors without detected metastases, who have shown the euphoric reaction, the maximum scores of AR are observed with a higher thyroxine concentration as compared with those in patients with metastases and low adaptation status, who have demonstrated the hypochondriacal type of the response. Conclusion The relationship between the characteristics of AR in patients with lung cancer and the cancer process prevalence is shown herein. It is assumed that thyroxine is involved in the formation of the positive psychoemotional states in the studied patients. The combination of the euphoric reaction with the maximum AR scores in patients with resectable lung cancer without detected metastases indicates that there is a psychophysiological mechanism of restraining tumor development; at the same time, it demonstrates that there is the need to refine the concept of the euphoric type of the response. The obtained results indirectly count in favor of the cardiovascular diseases therapy approaches, which involve the use of thyroxin drugs in accordance with the algorithms of activation therapy