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Cette revue de la littérature rapporte ce que ks patientes du cancer du sein ont écrit sur kur connaissance et kur attitude face au tatouage permanent qui définit L· surface du corps à irradier. La communauté médicale accepte générakment l'usage des marques permanentes, avançant l'hypothèse que les tatouages favorisent un traitement radiokgique plus précis et procurent un dossier permanent de l'exposition aux radiations. Mais il existe de plus en plus de témoignages des femmes qui s'offusquent des marques permanentes sur leur corps, depuis le rejet catégorique jusqu'à l'indifférence ou encore l'acceptation d'embUe des tatouages en dépit des séquelles éventuelks pour kur bien-être psychologique.
The emotional and psychological trauma and distress of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery are well-documented. The existing literature attributes this distress to fears about death, recurrence and overall health (Ashing-Giwa et al.), the impact of treatment and recovery on relationships, children or work (Ashing-Giwa et al.; Buick et al.), and concerns about physical changes to the breasts resulting from mastectomy, lumpectomy, and other treatments (Deshields et al.). Other studies explore possible associations between breast cancer diagnosis and treatment and mental health issues, including post- traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) (Andersen et al.; Andrykowski and Cordova) and depression (Mosher and Danoff-Burg; Roussi et al.). What is unclear from this research, however, is how the use of permanent tattoos in radiotherapy for breast cancer affects women's psychosocial understandings and experiences of the disease. Even research that focuses on patients' experiences of radiotherapy does not directly address the psychological impact of permanent radiation tattooing (Buick et al.; Deshields et al.; Siekkinen et al.).
The current standard of practice for defining the area to be irradiated for breast cancer treatment is by marking the skin with small, permanent blue ink dots or "tattoos" (Griffiths et al.; Winer et al.). For breast cancer patients, tattooing typically involves anywhere from four to twelve dots - depending on the institution - at points ranging from the collarbone to the fold under the breast and from the breastbone to underneath the underarm (Karmarnicky, Rosenberg, and Betancourt). While health care providers stress the need for tattoos to ensure accuracy and as a permanent record of radiation exposure, a growing body of research and anecdotal evidence points to an interest in alternatives...