Cancer Res Treat.  2016 Oct;48(4):1389-1398. 10.4143/crt.2015.410.

Clinical Features of Male Breast Cancer: Experiences from Seven Institutions Over 20 Years

• Hong JH
• Ha KS
• Jung YH
• Won HS
• An HJ
• Lee GJ
• Kang D
• Park JC
• Park S
• Byun JH
• Suh YJ
• Kim JS
• Park WC
• Jung SS
• Park IY
• Chung SM
• Woo IS

• KMID: 2356241
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4143/crt.2015.410

Abstract

PURPOSE
Breast cancer treatment has progressed significantly over the past 20 years. However, knowledge regarding male breast cancer (MBC) is sparse because of its rarity. This study is an investigation of the clinicopathologic features, treatments, and clinical outcomes of MBC.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Clinical records of 59 MBC patients diagnosed during 1995-2014 from seven institutions in Korea were reviewed retrospectively.
RESULTS
Over a 20-year period, MBC patients accounted for 0.98% among total breast cancer patients, and increased every 5 years. The median age of MBC patientswas 66 years (range, 24 to 87 years). Forty-three patients (73%) complained of a palpable breast mass initially. The median symptom duration was 5 months (range, 1 to 36 months). Mastectomy was performed in 96% of the patients. The most frequent histology was infiltrating ductal carcinoma (75%). Ninety-one percent of tumors (38/43) were estrogen receptor-positive, and 28% (11/40) showed epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) overexpression. After curative surgery, 42% of patients (19/45) received adjuvant chemotherapy; 77% (27/35) received hormone therapy. Five out of ten patients with HER-2 overexpressing tumors did not receive adjuvant anti-HER-2 therapy, while two out of four patients with HER-2 overexpressing tumors received palliative trastuzumab for recurrent and metastatic disease. Letrozole was used for one patient in the palliative setting. The median overall survival durations were 7.2 years (range, 0.6 to 17.0 years) in patients with localized disease and 2.9 years (range, 0.6 to 4.3 years) in those with recurrent or metastatic disease.
CONCLUSION
Anti-HER-2 and hormonal therapy, except tamoxifen, have been underutilized in Korean MBC patients compared to female breast cancer patients. With the development of precision medicine, active treatment with targeted agents should be applied. Further investigation of the unique pathobiology of MBC is clinically warranted.

Keyword

Male breast neoplasms; Survival; Prognosis

MeSH Terms

Breast
Breast Neoplasms
Breast Neoplasms, Male*
Carcinoma, Ductal
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
Estrogens
Female
Humans
Korea
Male
Male*
Mastectomy
Precision Medicine
Prognosis
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Retrospective Studies
Tamoxifen
Trastuzumab
Estrogens
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Tamoxifen
Trastuzumab

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Patients diagram. FBC, female breast cancer; MBC, male breast cancer; HER-2, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; HR, hormone receptor; LN, lymph node.

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  Fig. 2. (A) Overall survival (OS) of total male patients with breast cancer. (B) OS of male patients with localized breast cancer. (C) Disease-free survival (DFS) of male patients with localized breast cancer.

Reference

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