Introduction:

Breast cancer in Colombia is the first cause of cancer death. Post-mastectomy pain syndrome ranges from 13% to 69%; there are no regional studies evaluating its incidence among our population.

Objectives:

Determining the incidence of post-mastectomy pain syndrome in patients diagnosed with breast cancer undergoing therapeutic oncology surgery at Hospital Universitario de Santander.

Materials and methods:

Observational, prospective study of a cohort from January, 2014 through July, 2015 during the Pain Clinic follow-up evaluating the occurrence of post-mastectomy pain syndrome.

Results:

In all, 76 patients were followed and a 55.3% incidence of the post-mastectomy pain syndrome was identified. Among them, 54.8% were classified as mild intensity (visual analog scale [VAS] <4), 42.9% as moderate intensity (VAS 5-7), and 2.4% severe intensity (VAS >8). The most frequent type of pain identified was myofascial pain (42.1%), followed by neuropathic pain (34.2%). Among the group of patients with this type of pain, a relationship was identified between age below 49 years, and this presentation (P = 0.018).

Conclusions:

The incidence of post-mastectomy pain is 55.3%, higher than various world publications. We found that younger patients were more prone to develop myofascial post-mastectomy pain syndrome.

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