Breast tenderness

Mastodynia
Classification and external resources
ICD-10	N64.4
ICD-9-CM	611.71
DiseasesDB	22464
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Breast pain (also known as breast tenderness, mastodynia, mammalgia, and mastalgia from the Greek μαστός mastos, "breast" and ἄλγος algos, "pain") is a medical symptom. Pain and discomfort may range from minor to severely incapacitating. Breast pain during lactation or after weaning is not included into this definition but is usually classified as breast engorgement or mastitis.

It can be classified into two main clinical patterns:

Cyclical breast pain (cyclical mastalgia) is very often associated with fibrocystic breast changes or duct ectasia and believed to be caused by aberrations in dynamic hormonal changes mainly involving prolactin response to thyrotropin. Some degree of cyclical breast tenderness is normal in the menstrual cycle, and is usually associated with menstruation and/or premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Noncyclical breast pain has various causes and is harder to diagnose. Noncyclical pain has frequently its root cause outside the breast. Some degree of non-cyclical breast tenderness can normally be present due to hormonal changes in puberty (both in girls and boys), in menopause and during pregnancy. After pregnancy, breast pain can be caused by breastfeeding. Other causes of non-cyclical breast pain include alcoholism with liver damage (likely due to abnormal steroid metabolism), mastitis and medications such as digitalis, methyldopa (an antihypertensive), spironolactone, certain diuretics, oxymetholone (an anabolic steroid), and chlorpromazine (a typical antipsychotic). Also, shingles can cause a painful blistering rash on the skin of the breasts.

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