PRINCE.EDWARD.ISLAND (CBC) - Applying some pain-relieving gel to the breasts before a mammogram may help in reducing breast pain - and encourage women to undergo the procedure, suggests new research.

Mammograms, in which a breast is compressed between two plates and x-rayed, can be painful for women with certain benign breast conditions, large or pre-menstrual breasts. They are used to detect breast abnormalities and cancers.

But new research published in the online issue of Radiology says that pain may be relieved through the application of a lidocaine gel prior to a mammogram.

Lidocaine is an anesthetic commonly used by dentists to numb dental pain.

"We now have something that we know reduces discomfort with screening mammography in women who expect higher discomfort - lidocaine gel," said the trial's principal investigator, Colleen Lambertz, a nurse practitioner at St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute in Boise, Idaho, in a release.

"With a more positive experience, we hope women will undergo more regular mammography screening."

The researchers believe that more women will opt for the procedure; many fail to go for screening because of the discomfort of the procedure, research shows.

The study involved 418 women between the ages of 32 and 89. Fifty-four of the participants admitted they had either "probably" or "definitely" delayed their mammograms because of their fear of the pain associated with them.

The women were broken into groups and given either placebos or acetaminophen, ibuprofen or a local anaesthetic gel with four per cent lidocaine. The gel was applied 30 to 65 minutes before the mammogram.

The researchers discovered that although the painkillers had little effect on the women's pain, the gel provided "significantly less" breast discomfort.

Eighty-eight per cent of the study participants reported they would get a mammogram the following year and 10 per cent said they "probably" would undergo the procedure.

"Women can now take charge of the situation," said Lambertz. "They can schedule a mammography appointment for a time in their cycle when their breasts are least tender, apply the gel at home and drive to the appointment knowing they have taken steps toward a positive experience with this potentially life-saving procedure."

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