A comparative study of Centchroman, Tamoxifen and Danazol in management of cyclical mastalgia

Probal Neogi, Soumitra Manwatkar, Santosh Kumar Singh, Anish Kola, Qazi Imran, Ila Katyayan, Atul Verma
In: International Surgery Journal · 2019 · vol. 6(2) , pp. 365 · doi:10.18203/2349-2902.isj20190384 · W2913496218
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-12 ⓘ

This study compared Centchroman, Tamoxifen, and Danazol against placebo for cyclical mastalgia, finding Centchroman and Tamoxifen offered better pain relief than Danazol after 24 weeks.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-12 · read from full text ⓘ

This comparative trial studied women over 25 years with mastalgia lasting more than 3 months, assigning 78 consecutive patients to four groups receiving Centchroman, danazol, tamoxifen, or placebo. The main outcome was changes in pain assessed using median VAS at 4, 12, and 24 weeks, where all active treatments reduced pain relative to baseline, and Centchroman and tamoxifen showed better pain relief than danazol at 24 weeks (p 0.05). The paper’s caveat is that it emphasizes management of mild cyclical mastalgia with reassurance/lifestyle measures and primarily reports effectiveness in this clinical context rather than addressing broader mechanisms or long-term outcomes. Relevance to endometriosis: the paper is about cyclical mastalgia treatment (a cyclical pelvic pain–adjacent symptom not specifically linked to endometriosis), and endometriosis is not discussed in the provided text.

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Abstract

Background: Mastalgia is a common problem and 60-70% women encounter it at least once in their lifetime. Many drugs have been used and are been used with varying response, like Tamoxifen, Danazol, primrose oil, topical analgesics and recently Centchroman. The objective of the present study was to compare the three most commonly used drugs in the treatment of mastalgia, namely Centchroman, Tamoxifen and Danazol with a placebo.Methods: All consecutive female patients more than 25 years of age with history of mastalgia for more than 3 months were taken up for the study. Patients were distributed into four groups and administered Centchroman, danazol, tamoxifen and placebo, respectively.Results: In present study of 78 patients, the median visual analogue score (VAS) in Centchroman group were 3, 1 and 3 after treatment of 4, 12 and 24 weeks, respectively with a pre-treatment VAS of 8. Similarly, in the danazol group, VAS at 4, 12 and 24 weeks were 4, 1.5 and 5, respectively. In the Tamoxifen group it was 4, 1 and 3 after treatment for 4, 12 and 24 weeks. On comparison, Centchroman and Tamoxifen both had better pain relief than danazol at 24 weeks (p 0.05) despite Centchroman having a lower mean VAS score.Conclusions: Mild cyclical mastalgia can be treated with reassurance and lifestyle measures. Moderate to severe mastalgia usually require drug treatment. Centchroman, Danazol and Tamoxifen are effective. Centchroman appears to have better pain relief relative to the rest.
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Background

Mastalgia is a common problem and 60-70% women encounter it at least once in their lifetime. Many drugs have been used and are been used with varying response, like Tamoxifen, Danazol, primrose oil, topical analgesics and recently Centchroman. The objective of the present study was to compare the three most commonly used drugs in the treatment of mastalgia, namely Centchroman, Tamoxifen and Danazol with a placebo.

Methods

All consecutive female patients more than 25 years of age with history of mastalgia for more than 3 months were taken up for the study. Patients were distributed into four groups and administered Centchroman, danazol, tamoxifen and placebo, respectively.

Results

In present study of 78 patients, the median visual analogue score (VAS) in Centchroman group were 3, 1 and 3 after treatment of 4, 12 and 24 weeks, respectively with a pre-treatment VAS of 8. Similarly, in the danazol group, VAS at 4, 12 and 24 weeks were 4, 1.5 and 5, respectively. In the Tamoxifen group it was 4, 1 and 3 after treatment for 4, 12 and 24 weeks. On comparison, Centchroman and Tamoxifen both had better pain relief than danazol at 24 weeks (p 0.05) despite Centchroman having a lower mean VAS score.

Conclusions

Mild cyclical mastalgia can be treated with reassurance and lifestyle measures. Moderate to severe mastalgia usually require drug treatment. Centchroman, Danazol and Tamoxifen are effective. Centchroman appears to have better pain relief relative to the rest.Metrics

References

Dhar A, Srivastava A. Role of Centchroman in regression of mastalgia and fibroadenoma. World Journal of Surgery. 2007 June; 31(6):1178-84. Srivastava A, Mansel RE, Arvinda N. Evidence-based management of mastalgia: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Breast. 2007 Oct; 16(5):503-12. Rathi J, Chawla I, Singh K, Chawla A. Centchroman as First‐line Treatment for Mastalgia: Results of an Open‐label, Single‐arm Trial. Breast J. 2016 Jul;22(4):407-12. Tejwani P, Srivastava A, Nerkar H, Dhar A, Hari S, Thulkar S, et al. Centchroman regresses mastalgia: a randomized comparison with danazol. Indian J Surg. 2011 June; 73(3):199-205. Krishnaswamy U. Profile of benign breast disorders and diseases in urban India. Indian J Surg. 2003;65:178-81. Davies EL, Gateley CA, Miers M, Mansel RE. The long-term course of mastalgia. J Royal Soc Med. 1998 Sep;91(9):462-4. Dhar D, Anand S, Sarkar D, Mukherjee SK, kumar Paira S, Mukherjee R. A comparative study of Centchroman vs tamoxifen in the management of mastalgia and fibroadenoma. Int J Sci Res. 2018 Jun 15;7(3). Jain BK, Bansal A, Choudhary D, Garg PK, Mohanty D. entchroman vs tamoxifen for regression of mastalgia: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Surg. Int J Surg. 2015 Mar;15:11-6. Bansal V, Bansal A, Bansal AK. Efficacy of Sevista (Ormeloxifene) in treatment of mastalgia and fibrocystic breast disease. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstetr Gynecology. 2015 Aug;4(4):1057-1060. Dhar A, Srivastava A. Role of Centchroman in regression of mastalgia and fibroadenoma. World J Surg. 2007 Jun 1;31(6):1180-6.

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