Male breast cancer – own experience

Abstract

Introduction. Male breast cancer comprises about 1% of all breast cancer cases. The advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis is connected with shorter overall survival rates when compared to female patients. We estimate 1, 2, 3, and 5-year overall survival rates in male breast cancer patients treated in the Institute of Oncology in Gliwice between 1996 and 2007, and to evaluate potential prognostic factors influencing patients’ survival rate. Material and methods. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 61 males treated due to breast carcinoma in the Institute of Oncology between 1996 and 2007. The median age was 61 years. The majority of patients were diagnosed in an advanced stage: T3-4 51%, N1-3 46%, M1 11%. The most represented histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (46%). Tumors were estrogen-receptor positive in 46% and progesterone-receptor positive in 41% of cases. Of the 45 patients who were treated radically, surgery was performed in 84%. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 20% and adjuvant in 36% of patients. Adjuvant hormonal therapy was administered to 62%. Palliative treatment was administered to 26% of patients. results. The 5-year overall survival rates in the palliative and radical group were 35% and 59%, respectively (p = 0.01). In radically-treated patients 5-year diseasefree survival was 48%. The variables with the strongest positive influence on the total survival rate included adjuvant hormonal therapy (p = 0.006) and radical surgery (p = 0.01). The use of chemotherapy had no significant influence on overall survival (p = 0.06). Radiotherapy (p = 0.8) had no influence on overall survival. Conclusions. Radical mastectomy is the treatment of choice for male breast cancer patients. Negative receptor status has the most significant negative influence on survival. table 1. Clinical characteristics of patients, clinical disease stage and results of the histopathology examination. Median age (range) 61 (40-90) Median follow-up in months (range) 5 (1-60)