Chronic Pain After Operation for Breast Cancer

Surgery for breast cancer is followed by acute undesirable sequelae (pain, nausea, vomiting, psycho-social adaptation) and late sequelae with discomfort or more severe neuropathic pain problems in the surgical area due to nerve damage or adjuvant-/radiotherapy. The late sequelae occur in 30-50% of patients but the exact mechanisms (preoperative disposing factors, intraoperative nerve damage/inflammatory response), acute postoperative pain and psychosocial factors remain to be determined in large, detailed, well-described studies, including stratification to modern breast cancer treatment (sentinel node strategy/ radiotherapy/ chemotherapy). The present study will describe in detail preoperative psychosocial/genetic pain mechanisms, intraoperative technique, multi-modal anaesthesia and opioid-reduced analgesia with a detailed, early and late postoperative follow-up with neurophysiological assessment in the surgical area and randomised studies on preventive therapy.