Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Male breast cancer: An 11 year review of 66 patients

  • Report
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A review was conducted of 66 men with carcinoma of the breast seen at this institution between 1981 and 1992. The results of the study suggest that there are many similarities between breast cancer in men and women. The most common clinical presentation was a lump in the breast. The majority of tumors were T1 or T2, and infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the predominant histological type. Axillary nodal status and histological grade were predictive of survival. The pattern of recurrence and survival rates were similar to those seen in women. Some differences, however, were evident. Tumors were centrally located in the majority of patients and there was a high frequency of nipple involvement. The hormone receptor positivity rate was high and the median age at presentation was older. In comparison to a previous report of the same disease from this institution 10 years ago, fewer patients underwent radical surgical procedures and more patients received adjuvant systemic therapy. These approaches are justified since there are many biological similarities between breast cancer in men and women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures — 1994. American Cancer Society, New York, 1994, 6 pp

    Google Scholar 

  2. Sanchez AG, Villanueva AG, Redondo C: Lobular carcinoma of the breast in a patient with Klinefelter's syndrome. A case with bilateral, synchronous, histologically different breast tumors. Cancer 57:1181–1183, 1986

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Michaels BM, Nunn CR, Roses DF: Lobular carcinoma of the male breast. Surgery 115:402–405, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Erlichman C, Murphy KC, Elhakim T: Male breast cancer: a 13 year review of 89 patients. J Clin Oncol 2:903–909, 1984

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Yap HY, Tashima CK, Blumenschein GR, Eckles NE: Male breast cancer: a natural history study. Cancer 44:748–754, 1979

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ramantanis G, Besbeas S, Garas JG: Breast cancer in the male: a report of 138 cases. World J Surg 4:621–623, 1980

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Hatschek T, Wingren S, Carstensen J, Hultborn R: DNA content and S-phase fraction in male breast cancinomas. Acta Oncol 33:609–613, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bagley CS, Wesley MN, Young RC, Lippman ME: Adjuvant chemotherapy in males with cancer of the breast. Am J Clin Oncol 10:55–60, 1987

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Patel HZ, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN: Role of adjuvant chemotherapy in male breast cancer. Cancer 64:1583–1585, 1989

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Ribeiro G: Male breast cancer-a review of 301 cases from the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, Manchester. Br J Cancer 51:115–119, 1985

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Elston CW, Ellis IO: Pathological prognostic factors in breast cancer. The value of histologic grade in breast cancer: experience from a large study with long-term follow up. Histopathology 19:403–410, 1991

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Fisher ER, Redmond C, Fisher B: Histologic grading of breast cancer. Pathol Annu 15:239–251, 1980

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Mantel N: Evaluation of survival data and two new rank order statistics arising in its consideration. Cancer Chemother Rep 50:163–170, 1966

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Blin N, Kardas I, Welter C, Rys J, Niezabitowski A, Limon J, Seitz G: Expression of the c-erbB2 proto-oncogene in male breast carcinoma: lack of prognostic significance. Oncology 50:408–411, 1993

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Fox SB, Day CA, Rogers S: Lack of c-erb-2 oncoprotein expression in male breast cancer. J Clin Pathol 44:960–961, 1991

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Leach IH, Ellis IO, Elston CW: c-erb-B-2 expression in male breast carcinoma. J Clin Pathol 45:924, 1992

    Google Scholar 

  17. Pich A, Margaria E, Chiusa L: Proliferative activity is a significant prognostic factor in male breast carcinoma. Am J Pathol 145:481–487, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Wooster R, Neuhausen SL, Mangion J, Quirk Y, Ford D, Collins N, Nguyen K, Seal S, Tran T, Averill D: Localization of a breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, to chromosome 13q12–13. Science 265:2088–2909, 1994

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Hoskins KF, Stopfer JE, Calzone KA, Merajver SD, Rebbeck TR, Garber JE, Weber BC: Assessment and counseling for women with a family history of breast cancer. JAMA 273:577–585, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Lobaccaro JM, Lumbroso S, Belon C, Galtier-Dereure F, Bringer J, Lesimple T, Namer M, Cutuli BF, Pujol H, Sultan C: Androgen receptor gene mutation in male breast cancer. Human Mol Genet 2:1799–1802, 1993

    Google Scholar 

  21. Anelli A, Anelli TFM, Youngson B, Rosen PP, Borgen PI: Mutations of the p53 gene in male breast cancer. Cancer 75:2233–2238, 1995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Davidoff AM, Humphrey PA, Iglehart JD, Marks JR: Maintenance of p53 alterations throughout breast cancer progression. Cancer Res 51:2605–2610, 1991

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Robinson R, Montague ED: Treatment results in males with breast cancer. Cancer 49:403–406, 1982

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Charles Erlichman

    Present address: Department of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Medicine, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, 610 University Ave, M5G 2M9, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Sue-Anne McLachlan

  2. Radiation Oncology, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Fei-Fei Liu

  3. Pathology, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Naomi Miller

  4. Biostatistics, Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Melania Pintilie

Authors
  1. Sue-Anne McLachlan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charles Erlichman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fei-Fei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Naomi Miller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Melania Pintilie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McLachlan, SA., Erlichman, C., Liu, FF. et al. Male breast cancer: An 11 year review of 66 patients. Breast Cancer Res Tr 40, 225–230 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01806810

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01806810

Key words

Search

Navigation