Treatment of fibrocystic mastopathy by an antiestrogen, tamoxifen.

For three successive months, 31 patients with fibrocystic mastopathy were treated with an antiestrogen, tamoxifen. As a result, the pain subsided in all but one of them. Disappearance or marked amelioration was also noticed in the objective signs of tenderness, diffuse induration and ill-defined tender lumps. The least-affected signs were serous discharge from the nipple and well-defined tumor masses. Side effects to treatment were minimal, and benefits persisted for three months after the end of therapy in two thirds of the patients.