Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of the National Medical Association logoLink to Journal of the National Medical Association
. 1996 Jul;88(7):439–443.

Cancer of the male breast: a review.

W L Williams Jr 1, M Powers 1, L D Wagman 1
PMCID: PMC2607994  PMID: 8764526

Abstract

A review of 20 cases of male breast cancer in 17 patients from 1959 to 1990 was performed. The median age at presentation was 53.3 years (range: 29 to 79). At the time of diagnosis, 30% (6) patients were stage I, 65% (13) stage II, and 5% (1) stage IV. Surgery was the initial form of therapy in all cases either as a radical mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, or total mastectomy. The median disease-free survival was 4.8 years with a 5-year disease-free survival of 41%, and with a 5-year overall survival of 47%. Seven patients are alive with no evidence of disease, two are alive with disease, five have died of disease, and two died of other causes. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) assays were performed on the tumors of 10 patients, with 80% being ER positive and 70% PR positive. The median disease-free survival for ER positive patients was 6 months with a 5-year disease-free survival of 12.5%. The overall median survival for this group was 2.9 years with an overall 5-year survival of 25%. In this review there was a high percentage of patients who were ER positive. The positive receptor status had value in predicting decreased survival.

Full text

PDF
442

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BENSON W. R. Carcinoma of the prostate with metastases to breasts and testis; critical review of the literature and report of a case. Cancer. 1957 Nov-Dec;10(6):1235–1245. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(195711/12)10:6<1235::aid-cncr2820100622>3.0.co;2-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bezwoda W. R., Hesdorffer C., Dansey R., de Moor N., Derman D. P., Browde S., Lange M. Breast cancer in men. Clinical features, hormone receptor status, and response to therapy. Cancer. 1987 Sep 15;60(6):1337–1340. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19870915)60:6<1337::aid-cncr2820600629>3.0.co;2-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Borgen P. I., Wong G. Y., Vlamis V., Potter C., Hoffmann B., Kinne D. W., Osborne M. P., McKinnon W. M. Current management of male breast cancer. A review of 104 cases. Ann Surg. 1992 May;215(5):451–459. doi: 10.1097/00000658-199205000-00007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. CAMPBELI J. H., CUMMINS S. D. Metastases, simulating mammary cancer, in prostatic carcinoma under estrogenic therapy. Cancer. 1951 Mar;4(2):303–311. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(195103)4:2<303::aid-cncr2820040215>3.0.co;2-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cohen R., Schauer P. K. Male breast cancer following repeated fluoroscopy. Am J Med. 1984 May;76(5):929–930. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(84)91012-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Eldar S., Nash E., Abrahamson J. Radiation carcinogenesis in the male breast. Eur J Surg Oncol. 1989 Jun;15(3):274–278. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Evans D. B., Crichlow R. W. Carcinoma of the male breast and Klinefelter's syndrome: is there an association? CA Cancer J Clin. 1987 Jul-Aug;37(4):246–251. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.37.4.246. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Everson R. B., Lippman M. E., Thompson E. B., McGuire W. L., Wittliff J. L., De Sombre E. R., Jensen E. V., Singhakowinta A., Brooks S. C., Jr, Neifeld J. P. Clinical correlations of steroid receptors and male breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1980 Apr;40(4):991–997. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Friedman M. A., Hoffman P. G., Jr, Dandolos E. M., Lagios M. D., Johnston W. H., Siiteri P. K. Estrogen receptors in male breast cancer: clinical and pathologic correlations. Cancer. 1981 Jan 1;47(1):134–137. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19810101)47:1<134::aid-cncr2820470122>3.0.co;2-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Greene M. H., Goedert J. J., Bech-Hansen N. T., McGuire D., Paterson M. C., Fraumeni J. F., Jr Radiogenic male breast cancer with in vitro sensitivity to ionizing radiation and bleomycin. Cancer Invest. 1983;1(5):379–386. doi: 10.3109/07357908309048506. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. HUGGINS C., Jr, TAYLOR G. W. Carcinoma of male breast. AMA Arch Surg. 1955 Feb;70(2):303–308. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.1955.01270080149025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Heller K. S., Rosen P. P., Schottenfeld D., Ashikari R., Kinne D. W. Male breast cancer: a clinicopathologic study of 97 cases. Ann Surg. 1978 Jul;188(1):60–65. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197807000-00010. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hilliard D. A., Wilbur D. W., Camacho E. S. Tamoxifen response following no response to orchiectomy in metastatic male breast cancer: a case report. J Surg Oncol. 1984 Jan;25(1):42–43. doi: 10.1002/jso.2930250112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kantarjian H., Yap H. Y., Hortobagyi G., Buzdar A., Blumenschein G. Hormonal therapy for metastatic male breast cancer. Arch Intern Med. 1983 Feb;143(2):237–240. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ouriel K., Lotze M. T., Hinshaw J. R. Prognostic factors of carcinoma of the male breast. Surg Gynecol Obstet. 1984 Oct;159(4):373–376. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Parker S. L., Tong T., Bolden S., Wingo P. A. Cancer statistics, 1996. CA Cancer J Clin. 1996 Jan-Feb;46(1):5–27. doi: 10.3322/canjclin.46.1.5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Patel H. Z., 2nd, Buzdar A. U., Hortobagyi G. N. Role of adjuvant chemotherapy in male breast cancer. Cancer. 1989 Oct 15;64(8):1583–1585. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19891015)64:8<1583::aid-cncr2820640804>3.0.co;2-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Ramantanis G., Besbeas S., Garas J. G. Breast cancer in the male: a report of 138 cases. World J Surg. 1980 Sep;4(5):621–623. doi: 10.1007/BF02401650. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ribeiro G. Male breast carcinoma--a review of 301 cases from the Christie Hospital & Holt Radium Institute, Manchester. Br J Cancer. 1985 Jan;51(1):115–119. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1985.16. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Ruff S. J., Bauer J. E., Keenan E. J., Moseley H. S., Fletcher W. S. Hormone receptors in male breast carcinoma. J Surg Oncol. 1981;18(1):55–59. doi: 10.1002/jso.2930180109. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Satiani B., Powell R. W. Cancer of the male breast: a thirty-year experience. Am Surg. 1978 Feb;44(2):86–93. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the National Medical Association are provided here courtesy of National Medical Association

RESOURCES