Post Mastectomy Pain Syndrome

Some pain, after a mastectomy is normal, but chronic pain can often be avoided by reconnecting the nerves that may need to be cut for cancer reasons. This nerve procedure is most easily performed at the same time as the mastectomy, but can also be considered afterward.

Studies have shown between 20% and 30% of women develop this. This is from American Cancer Society. More than 100,000 women undergo some form of mastectomy. 30%, which I think is very conservative, and then multiply it by, let’s say, 100,000, you could say there are 30,000 based on statistics or 30,000 new cases of Post Mastectomy Pain Syndrome annually

You shouldn’t suffer from this. It’s a nerve problem that’s not being recognized. If you can’t see it, you could not believe something is wrong. If peripheral nerve injury is not even considered a problem, you don’t even know to think about trying to address it. It will always be there, but certainly these numbers should be like, less than 10%.  Chronic post mastectomy pain is no longer a given. Chronic pain following mastectomy should be the exception, not the rule. It’ll always be there, but should be very infrequent.