Acute post-mastectomy pain is frequently challenging to adequately treat with local anesthetic-based regional anesthesia techniques due to its relatively long duration measured in multiple weeks. We report three cases in which preoperative ultrasound-guided percutaneous intercostal nerve cryoneurolysis was performed to treat pain following mastectomy. Across all postoperative days and all three patients, the mean pain score on the numeric rating scale was 0 for each day. Similarly, no patient required any supplemental opioid analgesics during the entire postoperative period; and, no patient reported insomnia or awakenings due to pain at any time point. This was a significant improvement over historic cohorts. Ultrasound-guided percutaneous cryoanalgesia is a potential novel analgesic modality for acute pain management which has a duration that better-matches mastectomy than other currently-described techniques. Appropriately powered randomized, controlled clinical trials are required to demonstrate and quantify both potential benefits and risks.

Axillary surgery for breast cancer has continually evolved, with sentinel lymph node biopsy for clinically node-negative women with invasive breast cancer having long replaced axillary lymph node dissection. The information obtained from axillary staging has been important in providing prognostic information and guiding adjuvant treatment recommendations. However, recent studies suggest that sentinel lymph node biopsy should be omitted in select low-risk patients whose axillary surgery provides minimal prognostic value. This was highlighted by the Society of Surgical Oncology Choosing Wisely Guidelines, advocating against routine axillary staging in older women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Since the guideline release, ongoing research has continued to identify the subset of low-risk patients who would benefit from the omission of axillary staging and improve adherence to Choosing Wisely to prevent overtreatment in older people.

Post-mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is a common and often debilitating condition. The syndrome is defined by chest wall pain unresponsive to standard pain medications and the presence of exquisite point tenderness along the inframammary fold at the site of the T4 and T5 cutaneous intercostal nerve branches as they exit from the chest wall. Pressure at the site triggers and reproduces the patient’s spontaneous or motion-evoked pain. The likely pathogenesis is neuroma formation after injury to the T4 and T5 intercostal nerves during breast surgery. We assessed the rate of long-term resolution of post-mastectomy pain after trigger point injections (2 mL of 1:1 mixture of 0.5% bupivacaine and 4 mg/mL dexamethasone) to relieve neuropathic pain in a prospective single-arm cohort study. Fifty-two women (aged 31–92) who underwent partial mastectomy with reduction mammoplasty or mastectomy with or without reconstruction, and who presented with PMPS were enrolled at the University of California San Francisco Breast Care Center from August 2010 through April 2018. The primary outcome was a long-term resolution of pain, defined as significant or complete relief of pain for greater than 3 months. A total of 91 trigger points were treated with mean follow-up 43.9 months with a 91.2% (83/91) success rate. Among those with a long-term resolution of pain, 60 trigger points (72.3%) required a single injection to achieve long-lasting relief. Perineural infiltration with bupivacaine and dexamethasone is a safe, simple, and effective treatment for PMPS presenting as trigger point pain along the inframammary fold.

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been the standard of care for clinically node-negative women with invasive breast cancer (IBC); however, there is less agreement on whether to perform SLNB when the risk of metastasis is low or when it does not affect survival or locoregional control. Methods: An Institutional Review Board-approved survey was sent to members of the American Society of Breast Surgeons asking in which scenarios surgeons would recommend SLNB. Descriptive statistics and multivariable analysis were performed using SPSS software. Results: There was a 23% response rate; 68% identified as breast surgical oncologists, 6% as surgical oncologists, 24% as general surgeons, and 2% as other. The majority practiced in a community setting (71%) versus an academic setting (29%). In a healthy female with clinical T1N0 hormone receptor-positive (HR+) IBC, 83% favored SLNB if the patient was 75 years of age, versus 35% if the patient was 85 years of age. Academic surgeons were less likely to perform axillary staging in a healthy 75-year-old (odds ratio [OR] 0.51 [0.32–0.80], p = 0.004) or a healthy 85-year-old (OR 0.48 [0.31–0.74], p = 0.001). For DCIS, 32% endorsed SLNB in women undergoing lumpectomy, with breast surgical oncologists and academic surgeons being less likely to endorse this procedure (OR 0.54 [0.36–0.82], p = 0.028; and OR 0.53 [0.34–0.83], p = 0.005, respectively). Conclusions: Despite studies showing that omitting SLNB in older patients with HR+ IBC does not impact regional control or survival, most surgeons are still opting for axillary staging. In addition, one in three are performing SLNB for lumpectomies for DCIS. Breast surgical oncologists and academic surgeons were more likely to be practicing based on recent data and guidelines. Practice patterns are changing but there is still room for improvement.

Introduction: The use of opioids in mastectomy patients is a particular challenge, having to balance the management of acute pain while minimizing risks of continuous opioid use postoperatively. Despite attempts to decrease postmastectomy opioid use, including regional anesthetics, gabapentinoids, topical anesthetics, and nonopioid anesthesia, prolonged opioid use remains clinically significant among these patients. The goal of this study is to identify risk factors and develop machine-learning-based models to predict patients who are at higher risk for postoperative opioid use after mastectomy. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we collected data from patients that underwent mastectomy procedures. The primary outcome of interest was defined as oxycodone milligram equivalents (OME) greater than or equal to the 75% of OME use on a postoperative day 1. Model performance (area under the receiver-operating characteristics curve (AUC)) of various machine learning approaches was calculated via 10-fold cross-validation. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Results: There were a total of 148 patients that underwent mastectomy and were included. The medium (quartiles) postoperative day 1 opioid use was 5 mg OME (0.25 mg OME). Using multivariable logistic regression, the most protective factors against higher opioid use was being postmenopausal (OR: 0.13, 95% CI: 0.03-0.61, p = 0.009) and cancer diagnosis (OR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.05-0.73, p = 0.01). The AUC was 0.725 (95% CI: 0.572-0.876). There was no difference in the performance of other machine-learning-based approaches. Conclusions: The ability to predict patients’ postoperative pain could have a significant impact on preoperative counseling and patient satisfaction.