Mastalgia is a common condition in women of reproductive years. We have assessed the long-term course in patients with severe mastalgia by distributing a postal questionnaire to 212 patients previously studied in 1983 who had attended the mastalgia clinic at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. 175 patients (83%) responded, with an original diagnosis of cyclical mastalgia (CM) in 120 and non-cyclical mastalgia (NCM) in 55. The median age of onset of breast pain was 36 years (range 12-63 years). The average duration of pain was long (median 12 years), especially if it started in the second or third decade of life. Pain persisted in 68 (57%) of CM and 35 (64%) of NCM patients. In CM patients resolution was commonly associated with a 'hormonal' event, notably the menopause; in NCM patients it more often seemed to be spontaneous. Severe mastalgia ran a chronic relapsing course often requiring repeated drug treatments.

Two distinct species have been ascribed to the genus Ityogonimus: I. lorum (Dujardin 1845) and I. talpae (Goeze 1782). The difference between these two species was pointed out by Dujardin in 1845. In the case of I. talpae the ventral sucker is about one-third the diameter of the oral sucker, and is situated behind the anterior termination of the yolk glands. In I. lorum the ventral sucker is larger than the oral and lies completely in front of the yolk glands. Dujardin named the former Distoma ocreatum and the latter I. lorum. Witenberg (1926), in further researches on the species, came to the conclusion that the first-named was identical with Distoma talpae of Goeze (1782), and as a result of his work there now exist two species of Ityogonimus occurring in the mole, namely I. talpae and I. lorum. The synonyms of I. talpae (Goeze 1782) between the dates of 1782 and 1910 are as follows: Distoma talpae (Goeze 1782), Cucullanus talpae Müller 1787, C. ocreatus Shrank 1873, Monostomum ocreatum Zeder 1800, Distoma ocreatum Duj. 1845, D. lorum Melnikow 1865, Dolichosomum lorum Looss 1900, Ityogonimus lorum Looss 1907, and I. lorum Gonder 1910.

The genus Petasiger which belongs to the family Echinostomidae was proposed by Dietz in 1909, with Petasiger exaeretus as the type species. The description given by Dietz of this species is incomplete and it is proposed therefore to present below a more detailed account of the anatomy, based on an examination of whole mounts and serial sections. The material was obtained from the small intestine of cormorants shot on the coast of Cardigan Bay between Aberystwyth and Llanrhystyd. Five cormorants were shot in July, and of these two contained a large number of Petasiger exaeretus in the small intestine.