Timothy Moynihan, M.D., Mayo Clinic oncologist

Breast cancer can at times be painful, whether that be from an operation and the residual effects of that, from biopsies, or from, unfortunately, spread of the cancer to other areas. We do know that almost all pain can be managed. I'm not saying that all pain can be absolutely removed, but we should be able to manage pain so that we keep it to a minimum. This may take some time, it may take some medications, and it may take some treatments. And the treatments may have to be adjusted; the medication may have to be adjusted. But in the long run, we should be able to manage almost all of that. It would be foolhardy of me to say that we can make people absolutely pain-free, but you shouldn't have to suffer with pain. Anybody who has continuous pain needs to see a specialist who can help with that. There are pain specialists, oncologists trained in pain management and pain teams that can be very helpful in this setting.

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