Introduction. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the Polish population. Surgical and adjuvant treatment is associated with multiple complications. In the process of recovery, quality of life is obviously very important, and it might be influenced by disease acceptance. Material and methods. We included 50 women 5 years after breast-conserving surgery (BCT) for breast cancer. The dependent variable was measured with the CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) technique using the standardized Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) by B.J Felton, T.A. Revenson, and G.A. Hinrichsen in the Polish adaptation by Zygfryd Juczynski. The AIS scores range between 8 and 40 points, with higher scores indicating better acceptance of the disease and its negative consequences. We also used a self-made survey for collecting sociodemographic and clinical data. Results. The general score of disease acceptance in the studied group was 33.7 points, which indicates full acceptance after 5 years since surgery in patients with no metastases. We did not find any association between sociodemographic data and the dependent variable. In the group of women who underwent sentinel node biopsy, disease acceptance was better in comparison to women who underwent axial lymphadenectomy. Conclusions. Five years after surgery for breast cancer women have high acceptance of the disease. Surgery conserving axial lymph nodes leads to better coping with the disease.

Key words: breast cancer, disease acceptance, breast-conserving surgery.