Nearly a quarter of breast cancer surgery patients experience significant and persistent pain up to six months after surgery and new research shows that women with pre-operative breast pain have the highest risk of extended post-surgical pain.
The study, published in the Journal of Pain and conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco, followed 400 breast cancer patients every month for six months.
It examined the incidence of Neuropathic pain (NP) which is defined as pain arising as a direct consequence of a lesion or disease that affects the body’s sensory system. It can be a debilitating condition and can manifest as burning, pins and needles, coldness, numbness or electric shocks.
The study asked women to rate the occurrence and intensity of pain based on the Breast Symptom Questionnaire and found that 31.7 percent of the study participants said they had no breast pain, 43.4 percent had mild pain, 13.3 percent had moderate pain, and 11.6 percent reported having severe pain that lasted for six months.
The findings suggest that one in four women will experience significant and persistent pain in the first six months following breast cancer surgery.
Four characteristics associated with severe pain after surgery included being of a younger age, lower education, non-white ethnicity and lower income. Other variables include pre-operative breast pain, changes in breast sensations, severity of post-operative pain, the number of lymph nodes removed and having auxillary lymph node dissection.
The researchers noted that the data suggests that improvements need to be made in post operative pain management to reduce the occurrence of persistent breast pain.
If you are experiencing severe or persistent breast pain following surgery, speak with your doctor immediately. There will be measures which can be taken to reduce or manage the pain.
