A digital behavioral pain medicine intervention effectively addresses post-surgical pain, enhance recovery, and potentially accelerate opioid cessation after breast cancer surgery.

Darnall and the team conducted a randomized clinical trial to compare the digital behavioral pain medicine intervention (“My Surgical Success” [MSS]) with digital general health education (HE) at Stanford University, USA.

The study included 127 participants randomized into two groups. Patients with 18 years or more who were scheduled for breast cancer surgery were eligible for the study. The intervention was done online; data collection was done by phone and online. There was no face-to-face contact with the study therapist or research staff.

The patients who were employed in the HE group received digital text education about health and nutrition with respect to post-surgical care. Subjects assigned to the MSS group have a website that has a 90-minute pain psychoeducational video, a downloadable Personalized Plan for Surgical Success, and a downloadable relaxation audio file.

The primary outcome was to identify the feasibility and acceptability of MSS intervention; the secondary outcome was to determine group differences in pain catastrophizing, pain intensity, and time of opioid cessation.

The assessment was done by using pain scales and patient-reported outcomes measurement information system. The attrition rate for MSS intervention was significantly high when compared with the Health education group. No significant difference was seen in post-surgical catastrophizing or pain intensity. MSS group showed higher instantaneous opioid cessation than the health education group.