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Evidence summaries

Danazol for Cyclical Mastalgia

Danazol appears to be more effective than placebo for pain relief in cyclical mastalgia, but causes several adverse effects. Level of evidence: "B"

A topic in Clinical Evidence 1 summarizes the results of one RCT (n=93) in women with severe cyclical mastalgia. Danazol 200 mg daily resulted in significantly more women achieving greater than 50% pain relief compared with placebo over 6 months (21/32 (66%) with danazol vs 11/29 (38%) with placebo, RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.9, NNT 4). In the same trial, tamoxifen resulted in pain relief in 23/32 (72%) of patients. Adverse effects included weight gain (31%), deepening of voice, menorrhagia, and muscle cramps.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by sparse data.

    References

    • Bundred N. What are the effects for treatments for breast pain? Breast pain. Clinical Evidence 2005;13:2260-2267.

Primary/Secondary Keywords