Efficacy of evening primrose oil and danazol in mastalgia–An observational study with respect to breast pain chart

Abstract

Background: Mastalgia is the most common symptom encountered in women who have gone under breast imaging, and 70% of women suffer from breast pain at least once in their lifetimes[1,2]. Mastalgia is defined as tension, discomfort and pain in one or both breasts[3]. Materials and methods: An Observational study was conducted upon 100 patients of Mastalgia receiving treatment in the Surgery Outpatient Department. Breast pain chart was initiated to classify mastalgia into cyclical or non-cyclical type and the response of respective drug monitored with Cardiff Breast Pain Score. These patients were either treated with Danazol (50mg BD) or Evening Primrose Oil (1000 mg BD). Duration of the study was from October 2018 to August 2020 in the Department of General Surgery, M. G. M. Medical College & L. S. K. hospital. Results: In this study overall mastalgia showed better useful response with Danazol (59. 2%) than with EPO (41. 2%) and this difference was statistically significant (Fisher’s exact test2-tailedpvalue0. 05). Cyclical mastalgia showed better observed response with Danazol (69. 4%) than EPO (47. 2%), this difference coming out to be statistically significant, Fisher’s exact test 2-tailed p value0. 02. Non-cyclical mastalgia showed slightly better observed response with Danazol (30. 8%) than EPO (26. 7%), this difference coming out to be statistically in significant, and Fisher’s exact test2-tailed p value0. 40. Conclusion: No significant adverse effects were observed with the doses of Danazol and Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) during the observed period.