A comparative study of pain experienced during successive mammography examinations in patients with a family history of breast cancer and those who have had breast cancer surgery

To measure mammography-related pain in two groups of women undergoing regular surveillance as a baseline for future care. Following ethical approval, two hundred and forty two women aged 32–84 years (mean 54), were invited by written invitation to participate in the study. Two hundred women accepted the invitation, 100 women had a family history (FH) of breast cancer, 100 had undergone conservative surgery (FU) for breast cancer and were currently asymptomatic. A validated pain scale was used to score the participants' perceived pain before compression based on memory, immediately after compression and one week later. A series of baseline parameters were also captured including compression force, breast size/density, menstrual history and any adverse events following mammography to allow the investigation of relationships. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.79, p