Sexual functioning complications in women with gynecologic cancer. Outcomes and directions for prevention.

Since the 1980 conference on gynecologic cancer, there has been an energetic focus on the psychological and behavioral outcomes following gynecologic cancer diagnosis and treatment. Extensive descriptive data on the sexual outcomes following cervix cancer are available. Much less is known about the sexual outcomes for women with other disease sites such as the ovary or vulva or women receiving radical or combination treatments. New directions for research and the design of preventive treatments to reduce sexual complications are discussed.