A snapshot study of chronic post-operative breast pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
"A snapshot study of the incidence and severity of chronic post-operative breast pain in a large oncoplastic breast unit"
IRAS ID
183851
Contact name
Laura Jayne Watson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
Chronic post-operative breast pain is a significant problem following any type of breast surgery, but its incidence is poorly defined in current medical literature - anything from 10-60% - and is likely to be significantly underestimated. The breast surgery team at the RVI therefore plans to perform a one-month observational questionnaire study to allow us to more accurately assess the overall incidence, severity and impact of this condition upon our large patient population.
We intend to do this by distributing a short symptom questionnaire to patients attending our daily surgical follow-up clinic, the idea being that they can complete it in the waiting room before their appointment. This will ask them questions about any pain they are experiencing and its impact on their quality of life, and will be supplemented by details about the patient's diagnosis and operation(s) from their medical records. The information from these questionnaires will then be transferred onto an anonymised data spreadsheet and used to analyse the incidence, characteristics and severity of chronic breast pain in our patients, and the impact of various specific surgical and anaesthetic factors on this. This study will have no impact on the investigations, treatment or follow-up received by patients and participation will be entirely voluntary. All female patients who have undergone breast surgery for any reason will be eligible to take part. We anticipate recruiting between 300 to 400 patients during the month of data collection.
It is hoped that the results will allow us to adequately counsel pre-operative patients about this condition, and to help and support post-operative patients who have already developed the symptoms. The research data may also be used to help plan future longer-term research projects looking into potential ways to reduce the burden of this condition in patients undergoing breast surgery.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0780
Date of REC Opinion
26 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion