Male Breast Carcinoma: Review of a Multicenter Series of 150 Cases

Abstract

The authors report on a consecutive retrospective series of 150 male breast cancers. Clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic features are compared over time and with respect to a large consecutive series of female breast cancers. Both age at diagnosis and tumor stage were more advanced in males than in females. Poor alertness of both men and doctors for this unfrequent disease may account for such a delay in diagnosis. The use of mammography increased over time and sonography or cytology were frequently and successfully employed in the last decade. Unfortunately no improvement of tumor stage at diagnosis was observed over time in the present series. A time trend was also evident for the type of surgical and postoperative treatment. Modified radical mastectomy and adjuvant chemo- or hormone therapy were increasingly adopted, although Halsted operation and postoperative radiotherapy were still common in the last decade due to the relatively high proportion of locally advanced T3-4 cancers. Both disease-free and overall survival were worse in men than in women, even after adjustment by stage at diagnosis. This study suggests that male breast cancer has a worse prognosis with respect to female breast cancer and provides no complete explanation of this finding, except for an intrinsic higher aggressivity. No evidence was found which may justify a different diagnostic or therapeutic approach with respect to female breast cancer.