---
title: Does tamoxifen treat premenstrual breast pain? | Niyora
description: Yes, 90% of women taking tamoxifen had complete resolution of breast pain. However, 86% of the placebo group also improved, suggesting a strong placebo effect
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/clinical-efficacy-of-tamoxifen-in-the-treatment-of-premenstrual-mastodynia-1998/
---

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- Does tamoxifen treat premenstrual breast pain?

Randomised trial, 1998

# Does tamoxifen treat premenstrual breast pain?

Yes, 90% of women taking tamoxifen had complete resolution of breast pain. However, 86% of the placebo group also improved, suggesting a strong placebo effect.

 Moderate study design

88 women aged 22-40 with regular cycles and severe premenstrual breast pain

## What they did

Double-blind placebo-controlled study of 88 women aged 22-40 with severe premenstrual breast pain and regular menstrual cycles. All had medical exams and imaging to rule out other breast problems. Women were randomly assigned to tamoxifen 10 mg daily on days 5-24 of their menstrual cycle (44 women) or placebo (44 women). They were examined at the end of treatment and again 2 months later.

## What they found

In the tamoxifen group, 90% had complete resolution of symptoms and 10% had slight improvement. In the placebo group, 86% showed temporary improvement and 13% had no improvement.

## What it means for you

Tamoxifen appears effective for premenstrual breast pain, but the placebo response was very high (86%), making it hard to know how much of the benefit comes from the drug itself versus placebo effect or natural improvement. This was a small single-center study.

88

women

90%

complete resolution with tamoxifen

86%

temporary improvement with placebo

## About the study

Original title [Clinical efficacy of tamoxifen in the treatment of premenstrual mastodynia] Authors Grio R, Cellura A, Geranio R et al. Journal Minerva ginecologica Year 1998 Study design Randomised trial What was tested Tamoxifen 10 mg daily on days 5-24 of menstrual cycle vs placebo Read the paper [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9595924/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9595924/)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Bloating, breast tenderness and physical symptoms](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-physical-symptoms/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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