In the Nov. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers indicated that nearly 50 percent of women report long-term pain after years of breast cancer surgery.

The study of nearly 3,253 questionnaires filled out by Danish women who had undergone breast cancer treatment between 2005 and 2006 revealed that 47 percent reported pain in one or more areas. Of those, 52 percent reported severe or moderate pain.

For those who reported their pain as light, 36 percent had it every day, 77 percent said they had daily severe pain. Pain was reported in the breast area, the armpit, the arm and the side of the body.

The study exposed that aromatase inhibitor treatment may perhaps cause muscular and joint pain. Consequently, considering the Danish study as a single point study, the researchers will decide about further study to pinpoint exact reasons behind the alleviated pain and sensory disturbances over time.

Doctors will disclose the concern in relation to the possibility of a recurrence and then attempt to find the most suitable treatment and valuable post-surgical pain in breast cancer treatments.

"This study isn't saying to change treatment recommendations based on whether or not a certain treatment is likely to be associated with pain. But it's telling oncologists that they need to be more alert to the incidence of pain. It's fairly common, though pretty variable in its intensity", says Loretta Loftus, a professor of medicine and oncology at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.