The relationship between malignant wound status and pain in breast cancer patients

• 81.8% of patients complained of pain. Of these, 40.9% experienced throbbing pain continuously.
• Nine patients had used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and seven patients had taken opioids for pain regularly.
• Malignant wound pain significantly correlated with the degradation of wound edges, granulation tissue, and time interval for wound care.
• It is necessary to provide especially pain control focused on the wound edge or granulation tissue.

PurposeSkin metastasis is one of the most frequent metastases in breast cancer patients. Patients with malignant wounds experience numerous symptoms, including serious wound pain. However, the features of pain related to malignant wounds have not been investigated. Nurses can experience a dilemma when treating these patients due to a lack of knowledge of the pain. The aims of this study were to examine the quality and intensity of malignant wound pain and to determine the association between wound status and pain in the patients with malignant wounds.MethodsCross-sectional study was conducted. Participants were recruited from a breast centre based in a general hospital. We collected the patients’ demographic and wound management data and assessed wound condition. Patients evaluated wound pain intensity and quality over the preceding week using the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The association between SF-MPQ results, wound condition, and the time interval for wound care was evaluated using the Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of the each facilities.ResultsThe median age of the 22 enrolled patients was 61.5 years, and the median time after diagnosis of malignant wound was 15.5 months. Overall, 77.3% of patients complained of pain. Malignant wound pain significantly correlated with the degradation of wound edges, granulation tissue, and the time interval for wound care.ConclusionWe consider that it is necessary to provide pain-control care focused on the wound edge and granulation tissue of malignant wounds through the assessment of malignant wound pain and condition.