Maastricht / Itteren –
Can Behavioral Therapy Help Prevent Persistent Pain After Breast Cancer Treatment? The Maastricht University Medical Center + has received a subsidy of more than half a million euros to research this.
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Chronic pain after breast cancer treatment is common. About 40 percent of patients suffer from this. That not only slows down the recovery from treatment, but also decreases the quality of life and reintegration of breast cancer patients years later, the hospital says. Every year, more than 12,000 women in the Netherlands are diagnosed with breast cancer.
At the moment there are hardly any effective treatment methods to reduce this chronic pain, according to the UMC +.
Angst
Previous research shows that a lot of fear of the treatment and having strong negative thoughts about pain increase the chance of permanent pain complaints. The study by the Maastricht team aims to prevent chronic pain complaints by better mentally preparing vulnerable patients for surgery. For this, an online cognitive behavioral therapy is being developed especially for breast cancer patients with the aim of strengthening the resilience of these women. The online program is combined with individual (online) guidance by an onco-psychologist.
In principle, all patients who undergo surgery for breast cancer from January 2021 are eligible to participate in the therapy.
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