The Prevalence and Impact of Lymphatic Pain on Daily Living in Breast Cancer Survivors

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) survivors experience symptom clusters. Lymphatic pain, conceptualized as the combination of pain on the affected side and self-endorsed swelling of the arm is a poorly described chronic pain syndrome in BC survivors despite knowledge that women who report pain on the affected side are twice as likely to develop lymphedema. The purpose of this study is three-fold: 1) understand the prevalence of lymphatic pain in BC survivors, 2) identify predictors of lymphatic pain, 3) examine the impact of lymphatic pain on daily activities. This study is part of an NIH R01 study of 568 breast cancer survivors. Measures include Lymphedema and Breast Cancer Symptom Experience Index (BCLE-SEI) Part I and II, patient demographics, and lymph volumes. Financial instability was a significant predictor of lymphatic pain. The lymphatic pain group experienced a statistically significant difference in reported ADL impairment in all 13 tasks measured (p 5% difference. At the time of study enrollment, only 22% of study participants in the lymphatic pain carried a lymphedema diagnosis. We found that 33% of the study sample endorsed lymphatic pain. Significant predictors of lymphatic pain included financial instability and a lymphedema diagnosis. This study provides new information that financial instability is also associated with a greater risk for the development of lymphatic pain. This study demonstrated that lymphatic pain is associated with significantly more difficulties in performing daily tasks. This provides new information that lymphatic pain is an important symptom of lymph volume changes and should become part of the early lymphedema diagnostic criteria. 1R01CA214085-01.