Breast Cancer May Be Gone, But Pain Lingers

Nov. 11 -- TUESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Even three years after finishing treatment for breast cancer, almost 50 percent of women report long-term pain, a new Danish study finds.

The research, published in the Nov. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, strengthens earlier findings, said study senior author Dr. Henrik Kehlet, a professor of perioperative therapy at Rigshospitalet at Copenhagen University. But this work indicates which women are most likely to experience persistent pain.

"Several previous scientific reports have shown a risk of chronic pain after breast cancer surgery," said Kehlet. The strength of this study, he noted, is the large number of participants -- more than 3,000 -- and the evaluation of many types of treatments.

Kehlet's team reviewed questionnaires filled out by 3,253 women who had undergone breast cancer treatment in Denmark between 2005 and 2006. Their treatments varied and included breast-conserving surgery, mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and dissection of the lymph nodes.

The women were asked whether they experienced pain, in what areas of the body, how bad it was and how often they experienced it.

In all, 1,543 -- 47 percent -- reported pain in one or more areas. Of those, 52 percent reported severe or moderate pain.

Among those who had severe pain, 77 percent said they had it daily. For those who reported their pain as light, 36 percent had it every day. Pain was reported in the breast area, the armpit, the arm and the side of the body.

The research was funded by the Danish Cancer Society, Breast Friends and a private organization that funds science research, the Lundbeck Foundation.

Women under 40 were more than three times more likely to have chronic pain than older women, the researchers found. Those having radiation therapy were more likely to have pain than those who had chemotherapy. Dissection of the axillary (under arm) lymph node was associated with increased likelihood of pain compared to dissection of the sentinel lymph node (the first node to which the cancer is likely to spread).