Causes of pain under the right breast | Pain under the chest

Causes of pain under the right breast

Often the pain under the chest is one-sided. There are causes for the discomfort, which occur on this side for no particular reason. There are also special causes that are limited to one side.

Pain under the right breast can have many causes.For example, an irritated nerve or muscle on the right side can cause pain under the right breast. A unilateral pneumonia with lung skin involvement on the right side can also cause pain under the chest. Similarly, a blocked pulmonary vessel can cause severe pain under the right breast.

Problems originating from the heart or stomach are rather unlikely. These are less likely to cause pain under the right breast, but rather on the left. One cause, which is slightly more common on the right than on the left, is a collapsed lung (pneumothorax).

This can be only partially collapsed, so that one has almost no complaints. In some cases a lot of tissue is affected, causing severe pain under the chest and in the back. Young, slim and tall men are often affected.

However, a pneumothorax can also occur on the left side. In addition, right-sided abdominal organs can often be responsible for pain under the right breast. These include the gall bladder and the liver.

The liver is located in the right upper abdomen and extends to below the ribs. If it causes pain, this can extend to below the right breast. Since the liver itself only causes pain when its capsule is stretched, pain below the chest caused by the liver is a late symptom.

An underlying disease can be cirrhosis of the liver, for example. It occurs mainly after years of alcohol consumption. Infectious causes such as inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) can also cause pain under the chest if the disease has a pronounced course.

In rare cases, a malignant tumor is concealed behind it. In contrast to the liver, the gall bladder is relatively often responsible for pain under the breast on the right side. It is located at the back of the liver and affects up to 15% of the population during their lifetime.

A distinction is made between gallstone disease and inflammation of the gallbladder. The latter is usually caused by gallstones, which can obstruct the outflow of bile. Diseases of the gallbladder cause severe, cramp-like pain in the right upper abdomen. These often radiate to below the right breast. The therapy for both the inflammation and the stones that have formed in the gallbladder is the surgical removal of the organ.