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Some women who are prescribed opioids and other drugs to ease pain after mastectomy and reconstructive surgery continue to use those medications, researchers reported.
In a large database analysis, new persistent use of opioids – defined as filling at least two prescriptions following surgery was observed among 13.1% of the women who underwent the breast cancer surgery, said Jacob Cogan, MD, of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical School in New York City.
In addition, about 6.6% of women in the study who had been prescribed another class of addictive substances sedatives or hypnotics to help them deal with anxiety or insomnia after the surgery became persistent users of those medications as well, he said at at the virtual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).