Table 6.
Differences in Intraoperative Characteristics Among the Breast Pain Classes
| Characteristic | No Pain (0) n=126 (31.7%) | Mild Pain (1) n=173 (43.4%) | Moderate Pain (2) n=53 (13.3%) | Severe Pain (3) n=46 (11.6%) | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ||
|
| |||||
| Number of lymph nodes removed | 4.3 (4.7) | 6.0 (7.1) | 6.7 (6.4) | 8.1 (9.0) | F=4.13, p=.007 0 < 3 |
|
| |||||
| Number of positive lymph nodes | 0.7 (1.8) | 0.8 (2.0) | 1.1 (3.3) | 1.4 (2.9) | NS |
|
| |||||
| Number of drains placed during surgery | 0.4 (0.7) | 0.5 (0.7) | 0.6 (0.9) | 0.5 (0.6) | NS |
| % (N) | % (N) | % (N) | % (N) | ||
|
| |||||
| Type of surgery | NS | ||||
| Breast conserving | 84.1 (106) | 77.5 (134) | 75.5 (40) | 82.6 (38) | |
| Mastectomy | 15.9 (20) | 22.5 (39) | 24.5 (13) | 17.4 (8) | |
|
| |||||
| Location of cancer | NS | ||||
| Right breast | 47.6 (60) | 46.8 (81) | 49.1 (26) | 45.7 (21) | |
| Left breast | 52.4 (66) | 53.2 (92) | 50.9 (27) | 54.3 (25) | |
|
| |||||
| Surgery done on | NS | ||||
| Dominant side | 47.6 (60) | 46.8 (81) | 50.9 (27) | 41.3 (19) | |
| Nondominant side | 52.4 (66) | 53.2 (92) | 49.1 (26) | 58.7 (27) | |
|
| |||||
| Sentinal lymph node biopsy | NS | ||||
| Yes | 84.1 (106) | 82.7 (143) | 86.8 (46) | 71.7 (33) | |
| No | 15.9 (20) | 17.3 (30) | 13.2 (7) | 28.3 (13) | |
|
| |||||
| Axillary lymph node dissection | χ2=8.20, p=.042 0 < 3 |
||||
| Yes | 29.4 (37) | 38.4 (66) | 41.5 (22) | 52.2 (24) | |
| No | 70.6 (89) | 61.6 (106) | 58.5 (31) | 47.8 (22) | |
|
| |||||
| Intercostobrachial nerve sacrificed | NS | ||||
| Yes | 0.8 (1) | 4.0 (7) | 5.7 (3) | 4.3 (2) | |
| No | 10.4 (13) | 10.4 (18) | 7.5 (4) | 10.9 (5) | |
| Unable to determine | 88.8 (111) | 85.5 (148) | 86.8 (46) | 84.8 (39) | |
|
| |||||
| Intraoperative wound infiltration with local anesthetic | NS | ||||
| Yes | 66.7 (84) | 60.1 (104) | 64.2 (34) | 58.7 (27) | |
| No | 10.3 (13) | 11.0 (19) | 11.3 (6) | 8.7 (4) | |
| Unable to determine | 23.0 (29) | 28.9 (50) | 24.5 (13) | 32.6 (15) | |
|
| |||||
| Intraoperative radiation therapy | NS | ||||
| Yes | 2.4 (3) | 4.1 (7) | 7.5 (4) | 2.2 (1) | |
| No | 97.6 (123) | 95.9 (165) | 92.5 (49) | 97.8 (45) | |
|
| |||||
| Reconstruction at the time of surgery | χ2=10.31, p=.016 no significant pairwise contrasts |
||||
| Yes | 15.9 (20) | 29.1 (50) | 18.9 (10) | 13.0 (6) | |
| No | 84.1 (106) | 70.9 (122) | 81.1 (43) | 87.0 (40) | |
Abbreviations: NS = Not significant, SD = standard deviation