Mastalgia: A narrative literature review of current understanding and management

Sajad Ahmad Salati, Ahmed A. Alhumaid
In: East and Central African Journal of Surgery · 2018 · vol. 23(1) , pp. 42 · doi:10.4314/ecajs.v23i1.9 · W2883049765
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This review summarizes current understanding and management of cyclical mastalgia, a common breast pain in reproductive-age women, focusing on interventions from the last decade.

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Abstract

Mastalgia, or breast pain, is one of the most common breast symptoms experienced by women of reproductive age. The cyclical variant of mastalgia is predominant, and patients need proper assessment and management to allay their 2 chief concerns: (1) the severity of pain negatively impacting daily life and (2) the fear of harbouring malignancy. This article presents a brief review of various modalities of management for cyclical mastalgia and emphasizes data collected from peer-reviewed literature published in the last decade. Keywords: mastalgia; breast pain; mastodynia; mammalgia; cyclic mastalgia; noncyclic mastalgia; danazol; tamoxifen; reassurance; visual analogue scale
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Abstract

Mastalgia, or breast pain, is one of the most common breast symptoms experienced by women of reproductive age. The cyclical variant of mastalgia is predominant, and patients need proper assessment and management to allay their 2 chief concerns: (1) the severity of pain negatively impacting daily life and (2) the fear of harbouring malignancy. This article presents a brief review of various modalities of management for cyclical mastalgia and emphasizes data collected from peer-reviewed literature published in the last decade.

Keywords

mastalgia; breast pain; mastodynia; mammalgia; cyclic mastalgia; noncyclic mastalgia; danazol; tamoxifen; reassurance; visual analogue scale

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