Pain-preventing strategies in mammography: an observational study of simultaneously recorded pain and breast mechanics throughout the entire breast compression cycle

BMC Women's Health

Research Article

Mireille JM Broeders¹  Jerry E de Groot²  Cornelis A Grimbergen³  Gerard J den Heeten⁴ 

[1] Department for Health Evidence, Radboud University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;LRCB Dutch reference center for screening, P.O. Box 6873, 6503 GJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;Department of Biomedical Engineering & Physics, Academic Medical Center, P.O. Box 22660, Meibergdreef 9, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Department of Biomedical Engineering & Physics, Academic Medical Center, P.O. Box 22660, Meibergdreef 9, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;Sigmascreening B.V., Meibergdreef 45, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;LRCB Dutch reference center for screening, P.O. Box 6873, 6503 GJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, P.O. Box 22660, 1100 DD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;

关键词: Mammography;    Breast;    Personalized;    Compression;    Pain;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12905-015-0185-2

 received in 2014-11-24, accepted in 2015-03-04,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMany women consider mammography painful. Existing studies on pain-preventing strategies only mention pain scores reported before and after breast compression. Studying the pain dynamics during the entire compression cycle may provide new insights for effective pain-preventing strategies.MethodsThis observational study included 117 women who consented to use a custom turning knob to indicate their pain experience during standard mammographic breast compressions in the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The breast thickness, compression force, contact area, contact pressure and pain experience were recorded continuously. Breast volume was calculated retrospectively from the mammograms. We visualized the progression of pain in relation to breast mechanics for five groups of breast volumes and we performed multivariable regressions to identify factors that significantly predict pain experience.ResultsBreast compressions consisted of a deformation phase for flattening, and a clamping phase for immobilization. The clamping phase lasted 12.8 ± 3.6 seconds (average ± standard deviation), 1.7 times longer than the 7.5 ± 2.6 seconds deformation phase. During the clamping phase, the average pain score increased from 4.75 to 5.88 (+24%) on a 0 – 10 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), and the proportion of women who reached severe pain (NRS ≥ 7) increased from 23% to 50% (more than doubled). Moderate pain (NRS ≥ 4) was reported up to four days after the mammogram. Multivariable analysis showed that pain recollection of the previous mammogram and breast pain before the compression, are significant predictors for pain. Women with smallest breasts experienced most pain: They received highest contact pressures (force divided by contact area) and the pressure increased at the highest rate.ConclusionWe suggest further research on two pain-preventing strategies: 1) using a personalized compression protocol by applying to all breasts the same target pressure at the same, slow rate, and 2) shortening the phase during which the breast is clamped.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© de Groot et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015