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April 15, 2003 — The low level of pain reported after mammography is useful information for patients and practitioners and may increase adherence to screening recommendations, according to an article in the April 14 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association.
Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women, and the second leading cause of cancer death in women, with an estimated 40,000 deaths in 2002, according to the article. Mammography screening for older women with no signs of breast cancer has been shown to be effective in reducing deaths caused by breast cancer. Many women report pain as a major barrier to getting screened, but few studies have reported on the degree and type of pain women experience during mammographies.
Penny C. Sharp, Ed.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues interviewed 200 women 40 years old and older immediately after undergoing a screening mammography. They were questioned about any pain they experienced during the procedure, the difference between the mammography experience and what their expectations were in terms of pain and what they thought the most stressful part of the procedure was.
The researchers found that 72 percent of the women reported pain ranked as a four or less on a scale of zero to 10 (with 10 being the most intense pain). The highest level of pain reported was during the compression of the breasts. Ninety-six percent of the women reported that the pain was "less than" or "about as expected." Most (94 percent) said they were very likely or somewhat likely to get a mammogram next year.
Thirty-nine percent of the women reported that waiting for the results was the most stressful part of the exam.
The researchers also found that "Although women often express beliefs relating pain to breast size during mammography, we found no correlation between size of breast (bra size or cup size) and reported pain."