VANCOUVER — It won't make a big splash in Victoria's Secret catalogues, but a new bra is proving to be a sure hit with women recovering from heart surgery.

Kathryn King, a University of Calgary researcher, came up with the idea for the specialized compression bra for women who experience numbness, tingling and shooting sensations in their breasts after their chests are opened for the surgery.

She said a study of 481 women in 10 cities across Canada shows that those who wore the bra had significantly less post-operative breast pain and discomfort compared to women in a control group.

King presented findings of the two-year study at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver on Sunday.

Results of the study will also be published in the American Heart Journal.

King said the study, funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research, is the first to provide scientific data that show a supportive bra is safe and effective enough to be worn after heart surgery - even right in the operating room.

"Our protocol was that as soon as they were clinically stable, get the bra on them."

"This is why it's so neat, it can go on that early," she said. "It doesn't interfere with the monitoring equipment and they're able to have the chest tubes in."

Currently, women are asked to bring a comfortable bra to the hospital but aren't able to wear it for up to four days, King said.

The soft, tight-fitting compression bra is easy to put on because it closes in the front with a zipper and has straps that include Velcro.

That makes the bra adjustable to accommodate changing breast sizes - something that can happen after surgery because of fluid retention or weight loss. It also has no metal clasps that can interfere with X-rays.

Christine Smith, 56, started wearing the bra after heart surgery to replace a valve.

She continued wearing it for another two weeks at home and then alternated it with a conventional bra.

"I certainly felt that it reduced my pain because it sort of holds everything together and makes you feel really secure," Smith said.

"I think that when you're more physically comfortable you feel more secure and more safe and I think that all helps when you're healing up from surgery - not only the physical but also the psychological recovery," Smith said of her surgery three years ago.

King's inspiration for the study came 20 years ago while she was working in an intensive care unit where she saw women struggling with pain after surgery.

She modified a bra worn by women who undergo breast reductions to come up with the unique compression bra.

While several American health centres provide women with different types of undergarments to wear after heart surgery, King said none had been studied scientifically.

A compression bra is particularly helpful after women go home from the hospital and experience more pain because of increased activity, she said.

"They're really, really well taken care of while they're in hospital and then they get home. They walk in the front door and people are asking them what's for dinner."

A further study will also determine whether the specialized bra reduces scarring.

Dr. Andrew Maitland, chief of cardiac surgery for the Calgary Health Region, said the bra is a much better alternative to the sports bras he has asked patients to bring to hospital.

"The one thing that has come out of the study that's positive is that (the compression bra) decreases pain in those people who wore it and therefore I'm going to assume that their recovery was that much better," Maitland said.

The cost of the bra, which King pegged at about $75, should be covered by provincial health-care plans, he said.

"If you can alleviate pain and suffering, which of course is one of our basic things in medicine, then you should fund it.

"I think that all the purchasing departments at the hospitals are going to be clamouring to get it."