Chronic pain in breast cancer patients post mastectomy with alloplastic reconstruction: A scoping review

Women diagnosed with breast cancer are receiving mastectomy with implant-based reconstruction at an increasing rate. Chronic post-surgical pain can be a major concern for these patients. This review sought to address the knowledge gap on the prevalence, severity and characteristics of chronic pain in this population.

A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Five databases were searched using keywords. Two independent reviewers performed selection and data extraction of studies that met inclusion criteria.

Seventeen studies were included in this review. Ten studies reported prevalence of chronic pain which ranged from 7.3%-90.9% with pooled prevalence of 26.3%. Nine studies reported severity of chronic pain using various scales and methodology; most patients' pain was not severe. Risk factors for chronic pain included axillary dissection, lack of perioperative local anaesthetic, younger age and use of a tissue expander. No studies reported on possible correlation between ethnicity and pain. Eleven different assessment tools were used to measure pain.

Chronic pain following post-mastectomy implant-based breast reconstruction is prevalent, associated with specific risk factors and poorly characterised. There is a need to investigate and evaluate chronic pain in this population using validated breast cancer specific pain assessment tools.