The Necessity of Upper Extremity Neurologic Examination while Evaluating Breast Pain

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Orthopedics
• Radiology

Background:

• Breast pain affects a significant portion of women, with prevalence rates ranging from 45-69%.
• Cervical disc herniation, a common cause of cervical radiculopathy, occurs in 18.6 per 100,000 individuals.
• Cervical radiculopathy should be investigated as a potential cause of breast pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the association between upper extremity neurologic findings and cervical root disorders in patients experiencing breast pain.
• To investigate the prevalence of neurologic symptoms in women with breast pain compared to controls.

Main Methods:

• Prospective collection of clinical data from patients presenting with breast pain.
• Performance of upper extremity neurologic examinations on both patients with breast pain and control groups.
• Utilization of cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose cervical root disorders in patients with positive neurologic findings.

Main Results:

• Women with breast pain exhibited higher rates of numbness (49.8%) and dysesthesia (15.5%) compared to controls (32.4% and 5.3%, respectively).
• No significant difference in upper extremity weakness was observed between the breast pain group (4.3%) and controls (4.4%).
• Cervical spine MRI revealed cervical root disorders in 95.6% of patients with breast pain and neurologic findings, including central disc protrusion (62.2%), bulging (23.3%), and annular tear (10%).

Conclusions:

• Cervical root disorders are a significant factor contributing to extramammary breast pain.
• Neurologic findings in the upper extremities, particularly numbness and dysesthesia, are associated with cervical root disorders in patients with breast pain.
• Age was identified as a significant predictor of neurologic findings in patients with breast pain.