AbstractBreast pain, also known as mastalgia or mastodynia, is a commonly encountered symptom in clinical practice. It causes significant patient anxiety and was the primary indication for breast-related visits in the hospital. Women often seek medical attention for breast pain due to concerns of breast cancer. Given that breast pain as a sole complaint has low risk of breast cancer. It is not unusual for women to have 2–3 days of mild breast pain premenstrually but 8–30% of women report moderate to severe breast pain with a duration of 5 or more days each month. Mastalgia can
be severe enough to interfere with the quality of life. It may be cyclical or non cyclical mastalgia. The etiology of mastalgia is not well understood. Hormonal assays of Estrogen, Progesterone, and Prolactin have shown no abnormalities despite the relationship to the menstrual cycle. Even so, Pregnancy, Lactation, Menopause, Oral contraceptives, and hormone replacement therapy variously affect the course of breast pain. Evening primrose oil, Vitamin E, Danazol, Bromocriptine can be effective in treatment of mastalgia. However the studies are inconclusive about the effective treatment modalities for mastalgia. Nevertheless, reaching definitive diagnosis in patients with breast pain represents a dilemma, as the causes and treatments
of breast pain are inadequately defined.
Keywords: Mastalgia; Breast Cancer; Estrogen; Evening Primrose Oil; Vitamin E