OTC Lidocaine Soothes Fears, Pain of Mammogram

Many women delay or avoid getting mammography exams because the process itself can cause a considerable degree of discomfort in some women and others fear the possibility. Researchers may have discovered a way to come to the rescue. And the rescue comes in the form of an inexpensive anesthetic gel sold everywhere. Women can apply it themselves, at home, before leaving for their mammogram appointments.

Only skin cancer occurs more often in women than breast cancer does. The American Cancer Society says the annual death rate from breast cancer tops 40,000. Early detection is crucial to survival. Mammography is said to be “the only screening tool proven to reduce mortality” in women age 40 and older. There is no way to determine the number of lives lost to women who were reluctant to get routine mammograms just because they feared or expected pain.

Looking for an effective way to quell those fears, Nurse Practitioner Colleen Lambertz, FNP, at the St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute, in Boise, Idaho, and her team of researchers compared the pain-relieving results of a combination of several common, easily acquired, medications available over the counter (OTC). They recruited 418 women between the ages of 32 and 89. All women reported fears of pain during mammography. More than half of them (54%) admitted to delaying mammograms because of their fears.

The fear factor is explained by the way the mammography equipment compresses a woman’s breast horizontally between two flat surfaces in order to obtain the clearest diagnostic images. The squeezing together of the two plates causes fear in many women. Some women, with dense breast tissue or during the most pain-sensitive point in her cycle, often report a great deal of discomfort during the procedure and the expectation of pain keeps them away.

The Lambertz team randomly assigned the study participants any one of a combination of therapies. Oral doses of acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or a placebo were assigned to some, but not all, women. For further randomization, some women were assigned a 4% lidocaine-based topical gel but not all of them were. Some of the women received both oral and topical medications while others received either oral medication or gel alone.

Study participants reported no relief from the oral medications but 84% of the women using the lidocaine gel liked it so much they said they would get a follow-up mammogram the next year. An additional 10% of the study participants said they’d “probably” get a follow-up mammogram.

Lambertz describes her study’s findings as a way for women to take charge of the fears associated with an impending mammogram. The gel can be applied about an hour before an exam and removed while prepping for the imaging exam. The gel does not diminish the clarity of the exam. She also encourages women to schedule their annual mammograms during the most pain-free time of their cycles.

Further details of the Lambertz study are available via the internet on the online edition of the medical journal, Radiology.

Source: Radiological Society of North America

Filed under: Breast Cancer, Drugs, Medical Research, Women's Health