Upplevelsen av att leva med pankreascancer : En litteraturöversikt

Sammanfattning: Pancreatic cancer is a form of severe neoplasm with a swift disease progression and a high rate of mortality. It is the 12th leading cause of death globally for all cancer-related mortalities. Diagnosis is often late in the disease progression due to the late manifestation of symptoms which limits curative treatment options, resulting in primary palliative treatments. Patients experience a broad variety of symptoms that affect their physical and mental health causing a tremendous symptom burden. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe the patient’s experience of living with pancreatic cancer. A literature review of qualitative and quantitative research articles was conducted to answer the purpose of this study. Data was collected through Cinahl, PsycINFO and PubMed and generated eleven articles which were analyzed, nine qualitative and two quantitative. The results were presented in two categories living in uncertainty which presented the patients emotions associated with getting the diagnosis together with unmeet informational needs and living with an unwell body which presented the physical bodily changes. This study concluded that pancreatic cancer has a significant impact on both the patients’ physical and mental health. Furthermore, there was a correlation between physical and psychological symptoms that all affected the patients' state of well-being. Moreover, patients experienced a lack of sufficient information concerning the disease. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the patient is seen as a whole entity by the healthcare personnel to meet the individual care needs that arise from the illness.