Localized mastalgia as presenting symptom in breast cancer.

The importance of breast pain as a presenting symptom of breast cancer was assessed in 200 women with localized mastalgia but negative physical examination and in 478 women with operable breast cancer. In the first group, mammography detected five cases of subclinical breast cancer at the site of pain. In the second group, 86 patients (18%) reported localized pain as presenting symptom, followed, at different intervals, by the detection of a breast lump. Localized pain can be considered a presenting symptom of breast cancer thus requiring a careful physical and mammographic examination, especially when risk factors are associated.