Evaluation of Anxiety and Salivary Chromogranin A Secretion in Women Receiving Breast Conserving Surgery Followed by Radiation Therapy

We conducted a prospective study to assess the anxiety and salivary Chromogranin A (CgA), which is considered to be a biomarker of the stress response, in outpatients receiving breast conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy (RT) to the whole breast. Fifty consecutive patients who received whole-breast RT were enrolled in this study. The anxiety levels were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at the beginning of RT (baseline), 30 Gy, completion of RT, and 1 and 3 months after RT. Salivary CgA levels were also measured at the same time. The mean state anxiety score for all patients was 46.16 with a standard error (SE) of 1.57 at the beginning of RT (baseline) which continued to decline during and after RT. It reached its lowest score with 36.34 ± 1.56 at 3 months after RT (p < 0.0001). The mean trait anxiety score for all patients was 43.10 ± 1.54 at baseline and remained constant during RT but began to decline after completion of RT and reached a low level at 3 months after RT (p = 0.0021). The mean salivary CgA concentration for all patients demonstrated no consistent trends over time, but at 30 Gy the concentration showed a significant decreasing pattern (p = 0.0473). Salivary CgA concentrations and state anxiety and trait anxiety scores at all time points showed no correlation. The mean anxiety scores measured by STAI showed no positive correlation with salivary CgA concentration for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy following breast conserving surgery.