A Single Blinded Comparative Study of Diclofenac Gel and Evening Primrose Oil in Management of Women Presenting with Mastalgia to Institute of General Surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Breast pain or mastalgia is the most common clinical problems with which most of the women approach to our surgical outpatient department. Several treatments have been proposed in management of mastalgia but yet recently diclofenac gel has been proven to be effective in treatment of mastalgia. This study is to compare the effectiveness of diclofenac gel and evening primrose oil in management of mastalgia. METHODS: Between March 2016 and September 2016, 80 patients with mastalgia who got consultation as outpatient or inpatient in Institute of General Surgery, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai were subjected to evaluation and management as per treatment guidelines derived from recent systematic review. Data was collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Majority of the patients presented with fear of cancer rather than debilitating pain which would hinder with their activities of daily life. Diclofenac gel was found to reduce pain more effectively than evening primrose oil in patient presenting with mastalgia after monitoring for a period of 6 months INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Patient education and availability of quality radiological and pathological services are crucial in the management of patients with mastalgia in alleviating the fear of cancer among these women. Reassurance and appropriate medical and surgical treatment according to the cause of breast pain can reduce the morbidity and improve the outcome of the disease. In the end it was concluded that Diclofenac gel was proven to be more effective than evening primrose oil in management of mastalgia. There was significant reduction in pain when topical diclfenac gel was used when compared to Evening primrose oil. The pain score was monitored by Visual Analogue Score