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Predictive factors for patients who need treatment for chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) after breast cancer surgery

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Abstract

Background

Although chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) after breast cancer surgery is a common and prevalent postsurgical adverse event, the need for CPSP treatment has not been investigated. This study examined the proportion of patients who needed treatment for CPSP and associated predictors.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study with female patients who underwent breast cancer surgery at our institution. Participants were aged ≤ 65 years at the time of this study and were at least 1 year post surgery. The questionnaire examined the presence of and need for treatment for CPSP and included the Japanese version of the Concerns about Recurrence Scale (CARS-J). Multivariate analyses were used to identify independent predictors of needing treatment for CPSP.

Results

In total, 305 patients completed the questionnaire. The mean time since surgery was 67.1 months; 156 (51%) patients developed CPSP after breast cancer surgery and 61 (39%) needed treatment for CPSP. Among patients that developed CPSP, the fear of breast cancer recurrence as assessed by the CARS-J (odds ratio [OR] 2.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–6.28, P = 0.028) and ≥ 2 postsurgical pain regions (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.16–5.57, P = 0.020) were independent predictors of needing treatment for CPSP.

Conclusions

This study is the first to identify the proportion and predictors of patients who need treatment for CPSP. Fear of breast cancer recurrence and ≥ 2 postsurgical pain regions may predict the need for CPSP treatment among patients following breast cancer surgery.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the patients that participated in this study. We also thank Audrey Holmes, MA, from Edanz Group (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Technology.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Yasuaki Uemoto, Naoto Kondo, Yumi Wanifuchi-Endo, Takashi Fujita, Tomoko Asano, Tomoka Hisada, Sayaka Nishikawa, Yusuke Katagiri, Mitsuo Terada, Akiko Kato & Tatsuya Toyama

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive–Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Megumi Uchida & Tatsuo Akechi

  3. Departments of Oncology, Immunology and Surgery, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Katsuhiro Okuda

  4. Department of Education and Research Center for Advanced Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Hiroshi Sugiura

  5. Clinical Research Management Center, Nagoya City University Hospital, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Satoshi Osaga

Authors
  1. Yasuaki Uemoto
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  2. Megumi Uchida
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  3. Naoto Kondo
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  4. Yumi Wanifuchi-Endo
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  5. Takashi Fujita
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  15. Tatsuo Akechi
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  16. Tatsuya Toyama
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YU, NK and MU, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Naoto Kondo.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

Ethical approval

This study protocol (60-19-0031) was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

Informed consent

Written informed consent for this comprehensive research was obtained from all patients involved in this study.

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Uemoto, Y., Uchida, M., Kondo, N. et al. Predictive factors for patients who need treatment for chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) after breast cancer surgery. Breast Cancer 28, 1346–1357 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-021-01275-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-021-01275-4

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