Breast pain.
BACKGROUND
Breast pain may be cyclical (worse before a period) or non-cyclical, originating from the breast or the chest wall, and occurs at some time in 70% of women. Cyclical breast pain resolves spontaneously in 20-30% of women, but tends to recur in 60% of women. Non-cyclical pain responds poorly to treatment but tends to resolve spontaneously in half of women.


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical question: What are the effects of treatments for breast pain? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to January 2006 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).


RESULTS
We found 22 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: a low-fat diet, antibiotics, bromocriptine, danazol, diuretics, evening primrose oil, gestrinone, gonadorelin analogues, hormone replacement therapy, lisuride, progestogens, pyridoxine, tamoxifen, tibolone, topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, toremifene, and vitamin E.
Bundred
Nigel J
NJ
University of Manchester Department of Surgery, South Manchester University Hospital, Manchester, UK.
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001940:Breast; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D059373:Mastodynia / Q000188:drug therapy; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017312:Toremifene / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D017312:Toremifene