(Radio Iowa) – A new University of Iowa study aims to better understand the experience a woman has between when she’s diagnosed with breast cancer and when she starts treatment. Loreen Herwaldt, a U-I professor of internal medicine, says there’s almost no research on this period, and many times, it’s not a straightforward process from diagnosis to treatment.  Herwaldt says, “Oftentimes there are detours that, ‘Oh, you need an additional test,’ or ‘We’ve just discovered this,’ and that can be very anxiety-inducing.”

Herwaldt says the goal of the study is to help improve patients’ experience during the stressful time. Herwaldt says her pilot study found patients reported a lot of worry and confusion during the period between being diagnosed and surgery.

“Sometimes they didn’t understand why they were having specific appointments or tests,” she says, “for example, one woman said, ‘I had no idea why I was seeing a plastic surgeon.'” According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, about three-thousand Iowans were diagnosed with new cases of breast cancer last year.