SPECIAL ISSUE: INTIMACY AND SEXUALITY AFTER CANCER - The effect of cancer and oncological treatments on sexuality

Sexuality and sexual disfunction (SD) related to a cancer diagnosis and treatments is a common feature in oncology. However, it is an underestimated and little investigated topic by healthcare professionals themselves. This translates into a limited knowledge of the real incidence of the phenomenon and of the underlying mechanisms. On the other hand it is well known how sexual functioning derives from the activation of the neurovascular system so that it can be deduced that anything that alters this system can potentially cause disfunction Cancer and related treatments could play an important role in the development of SD but certainly the loss and decrease of sexual desire are closely related to the psychological effects of the disease. In this article we review the available literature in order to better understand how cancer and treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are able to produce direct and indirect damage nally resulting in a SD