Male Breast Cancer: Clinical, Demographical, and Pathological Features in a Cohort of 41 Patients

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 13; no. 9; p. e17812
• Main Authors: Koseci, Tolga, Haksöyler, Veysel, Olgun, Polat, Koyuncu, Mahmut Bakır, Bozkurt Duman, Berna, Çil, Timuçin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto (CA) Cureus 08-09-2021
• Subjects: Oncology
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.17812

Background and objective
Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare malignancy, and it accounts for less than 1% of all cancers in men. The pathogenesis of MBC remains unclear, with most available data obtained from single-center studies and retrospective series. The aim of this study was to share our experiences of MBC cases and to describe the characteristics of MBC patients.
Materials and methods
We retrospectively reviewed the records of 41 MBC cases and recorded the pathological, clinical, and demographic features of the patients. Data on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were also recorded.
Results
The mean age of the patients was 64.1 ± 10.0 years. The most common histopathological subtype was invasive ductal carcinoma. Hormone receptor positivity was detected in 39 (95.1%) patients. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positivity was present in five (12.2%) patients. Most of the patients had early-stage disease. Surgery was the treatment of choice for most primary tumors. Thirty-nine (95.1%) patients received hormonotherapy, and 21 (51.2%) received systemic chemotherapy. OS was found to be 126.4 months and PFS was 83.2 months. The OS and PFS time in patients with a Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) score of <5.4 were longer than those with an NPI score of >5.4.
Conclusion
The hormone receptor status of most of the MBC patients was positive, and their HER2 status was negative. A multimodality approach was associated with longer survival, which has been reported in female patients with breast cancer as well. The NPI score is a useful tool for predicting survival time in MBC patients.