Pain in patients with breast-conserving cancer treatment and radiotherapy Bormeth S, Budischewski K, Mose S, Rahn A, Bottcher HD, Peters J. Radiologie St. Marienkrankenhaus, Frankfurt/Main. In patients with breast-conserving surgery of carcinoma and radiotherapy pain rarely is an issue between patient and physician because the operation is considered to be well tolerable and radiotherapy to have few side- effects. There are very few data about frequency and management of pain in these patients. Therefore we evaluated a group of 180 patients after breast-conserving surgery during radiotherapy using a new Likert-skaled questionnaire. Data on the following items were collected: number of patients experiencing pain, pain attribution, frequency and intensity of pain, subjective evaluation and restriction in daily routine. Furthermore, we evaluated the side effects of radiation in an RTOG scale. 85 % of patients had pain during radiation which by most was attributed to cancer treatment (surgery and radiation). More than 50 % reported light to moderate pain during the entire six-week treatment. Thus pain is a more common symptom in breast cancer patients during radiation therapy than normally assumed and therefore should receive more attention by gynecologists and radiotherapists. Zentralbl Gynakol. 2003 Jan;125(1):23-9. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.