Psychoendocrine Aspects of Cancer of the Breast

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Abstract
Thirty women in the hospital awaiting biopsy of a breast tumor were interviewed in order to assess the adequacy of their ego defenses in this presumably threatening situation. The criteria for this psychological evaluation were the patient's affective state, functional disruption, and defensive reserve impairment. Concurrent with these assessments, daily production rates of hydrocortisone and urinary excretion levels of the principal hydrocortisone and androgen metabolites were measured. A rank order correlation significant at the .02 level was found between rating scores for extent of defensive failing and hydrocortisone production rates, and at the .05 level between this psychological variable and the principal hydrocortisone metabolites; however, no correlation existed with the androgen metabolites. Since other studies have indicated a correlation between prognosis in breast cancer and a numerical ratio calculated on the basis of the patient's endogenous corticoid to androgenic steroids, this study raises questions about the determination and nature of such a ratio and about the possible role of psychological phenomena in the course of this neoplasm.

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