Botox, best known for reducing facial wrinkles, can also be used to reduce pain and spasms during breast reconstruction after mastectomy, according to a recent study.

The research, conducted by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS, was presented recently at the Plastic Surgical Forum of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in Philadelphia.

The study found that women injected with Botox after the surgical removal of their breasts had less pain and shorter hospital stays during reconstruction with tissue expanders.

Tissue expanders are temporary implants placed beneath the chest muscle and slowly inflated over several weeks to stretch the tissue in preparation for permanent implants.

‘The reconstruction process can be painful for some women, and we are happy to find a way to ease that pain,’ said Dr. Julio Hochberg, professor of surgery in the division of plastic surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine and co-author of the study.

Hochberg and co-author Dr. V. Suzanne Klimberg, professor of surgery and pathology and chief of the division of breast surgical oncology, conducted the study between July 2001 and February 2004. Klimberg is also director of the Breast Cancer Program at UAMS' Arkansas Cancer Research Center.

The study included 56 patients who underwent mastectomy with tissue expanders followed by implant placement — 30 with Botox and 26 without. The two groups were comparable in age, tumour size and expander size.

Hochberg found that patients who received Botox injections used 89 percent less morphine in the first 24 hours after surgery, had their hospital stays reduced by one day and used less morphine overall than the group without Botox.

According to UAMS, the study has drawn inquiries from surgeons and medical publications across North America. In addition to being chosen to present at the forum in Philadelphia, the study was one of only five of the 300 presented there that was chosen for promotion by the forum.

The study was also published in the October 2004 issue of the monthly Annals of Surgery, a surgery journal, after a months-long peer review process.

Source: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Annals of Surgery, October 2004