A study looking at chronic pain after breast cancer surgery

Please note this trial is no longer recruiting patients.

This study is trying to find out more about why some women have pain or discomfort for a long time after breast cancer surgery, and how this affects them.

Treatment for breast cancer is often very successful. But after surgery to remove breast cancer, some women have pain that can last for a long time (chronic pain).

In this study, the researchers want to find out if there are things that make it more likely that a woman will have this type of pain.

They will ask women about how they are feeling before their surgery. Then they will ask them about the pain they have afterwards and how they recover over the next few months.

The aim of the study is to find out more about

How women feel before and after surgery for breast cancer
Women’s experiences of pain after surgery for breast cancer
The type of pain they have after surgery
The impact this has on their quality of life

Please note - you won’t get any direct benefit from taking part in this study, and it is not testing any new treatment. But the findings may help women who have breast cancer surgery in the future.

Recruitment

Start 21/07/2008

End 06/02/2010

Phase

Other

Who can enter

You can enter this study if you are going to have surgery for breast cancer in Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness or Perth.

Trial design

The research team will ask about 600 women to take part in the study. Before you have surgery, you will be asked to fill in a questionnaire. This will ask about your general health, how you are feeling and whether you have any pain.

A week after your surgery, a member of the research team will phone you and ask you about how much pain you have.

The researchers will send you 2 questionnaires at 4 months and 9 months after your surgery. These will ask questions about any pain or discomfort you still have and how you are coping with your recovery in general.

Hospital visits

There will be no extra hospital visits if you take part in this study. One of the researchers will give you the first questionnaire during your clinic appointment, or they will post it to you. You send it back by post. The other 2 questionnaires will be sent and returned by post.