Male breast cancer

a 12 cases analysis in a single institution

Abstract

Male breast cancer is a rare presentation, and it is responsible for less than 1% of the cases in Europe and the United States. In Brazil, this data is not available, which makes it harder to identify the tumor behavior. We have performed a retrospective study in men with breast cancer, at the Hospital da Mulher Professor Dr. José Aristodemo Pintotti, of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), between January 2005 and December 2009. Twelve male patients were diagnosed with breast cancer. Data was obtained from clinical reports. The male breast cancer incidence was 0.57% (12/2.100), with medium age of 65. Although the tumor sizes vary between 1.3 and 8.0 cm, 83% of the patients presented a locally advanced disease, 75% with positive limphnodes in the axilla and only one patient had distant methastasis at the diagnosis. The tumors were invasive ductal carcinoma, with positive estrogen receptor in 75.0% of the research participants, and positive progesterone receptor in 58.4%. Eighty three percent underwent radical surgical treatment. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 58.40%, radiotherapy in 41.67% and tamoxifen in 41.67%. Relapses occurred in 6 patients (50%), particularly in bones, lungs and brain. There is not enough information about male breast cancer, and it takes longer for these patients to seek for medical evaluation, which can cause a delay in the diagnosis, and the disease will only be detected at a more advanced stage, which seriously impacts prognosis.