Vapocoolant Analgesia for Breast Lymphoscintigraphy: A Prospective Clinical Trial

Breast lymphoscintigraphy is commonly performed before initial surgical intervention and surgical staging in the setting of breast cancer. Breast lymphoscintigraphy injections can often be quite painful and are routinely performed without any anesthesia or analgesia, thus representing a significant unmet need for the breast cancer population. Although vapocoolants have been previously available, they have typically been used on intact skin and not been recommended for sterile procedures. Thirty consecutive patients were enrolled in our prospective study of which 29 received vapocoolant analgesia in the setting of breast lymphoscintigraphy. Patients were given a postinjection questionnaire that included a self-reported pain score and boolean question regarding whether they would recommend vapocoolant for future patients. The lymposcintigraphy procedure was successful in 100% of cases with an ipsilateral axillary node identified on average within 2.4 h of injection (median, 1 h; range 1-4.5 h). The average self-reported pain score was 1.98 (median, 1; range, 1-10). Vapocoolant analgesia in the setting of breast lymphoscintigraphy is feasible, does not appear to compromise lymphoscintigraphy, and appears to be associated with generally low self-reported pain scores.