Objectives Breast cancer is the most frequent solid cancer among menopausal women. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the body image and the sexual function in menopausal women diagnosed with nonmetastatic and operable breast cancer.

Methods This is a prospective cohort-type study of 200 menopausal women diagnosed then operated on for breast carcinoma between January 2017 and January 2019 in the department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Farhat Hached Teaching Hospital Sousse, Tunisia. Patients were stratified based on whether they underwent conservative (G1) or radical (G2) breast surgery.

The data collection used 2 standardized psychometric assessment scales validated in Arabic:

The Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA) for the evaluation of the body image and The Arab Female Sexual Function Index (ArFSFI) for evaluation of sexual function.

Results The two groups were comparable in terms of age and of socio-economical characteristics of the patients and their spouses. The median tumor size at the time of cancer diagnosis was 3.6 cm (± 1.2) in G1 and 6.1 cm (± 2.6). The body image was lower after mastectomy with a significant difference for the item appearance( p = 0.047); without influencing any aspect of the sexual function. The results concerning the sexual function are synthesized in the following table 1.

There is an inversely positive correlation between the husband’s education level and the feminine sexual dysfunction p = 0.042.

Conclusion Although the body image esteem is lower after mastectomy in menopausal women, there is no difference in their sexual function.