This studyʼs main goal was to evaluate the impact of two cirurgical procedures, mastectomy and hysterectomy in sexual functioning in women with breast cancer and gynaecological cancer, comparing them with a non-clinical group.

60 women between 28 and 62 years of age submitted to either mastectomies (30) or hysterectomies (30) were considered. The non-clinical group is made up of 50 healthy women.

The FSFI (The Female Sexual Function Index - Portuguese version) and the SDS (Zungʼs Self-Rating Depression Scale - Portuguese version) were used.

When comparing the non-clinical to the clinical group, results suggests a higher prevalence of sexual function changes and a higher presence of depression symptoms. Concerning sexual function there are no differences in the depression symptoms and in most FSFI dimensions between both sub-groups (mastectomized and hysterectomized), however there are some differences in the dimensions referring to lubrification, sexual pain and vaginism, these problems are more accentuated in histerectomized patients. The incidence of sexual pain and vaginism doesn’t show significative differences between mastectomized patients and healthy women, however, concerning lubrification, mastectomized patients show higher occurrence of this disfunction.

Sexual function is affected by surgery and cancer diagnosis. In this light, results reiterate the need for psychological intervention as an attempt to aid the adaptation and reorganization of a gratifying and satisfactory sexuality.