What Is Scanxiety?

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VIDEO | 11:00

Laura Liberman, a breast imaging expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering and a cancer survivor, says it is normal to feel stress before imaging tests – whether they are performed to detect cancer, measure a tumor’s response to treatment, or identify a cancer relapse. She explains that many people find the unpredictability in the outcome of a scan stressful. Having a follow-up scan or needing additional views during an imaging session has been shown to trigger classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in people with cancer.