Male breast cancer constitutes <1% of breast cancer and is a relatively unexplored area. Guidelines on this entity are by and large extrapolated from female breast data. Survival in male breast cancer is not clearly elucidated and more data is required to better understand this disease.
We retrospectively analyzed the data of 192 patients with male breast cancer registered at our institute from 2010 to 2020. For the purpose of this study all patients were staged as per the 8th edition AJCC recommendations. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 28.0.
Of the 20,277 new patients of breast cancer registered between 2010 and 2020, 0.94% (192) were males. The median age at presentation was 58.0 years (23-82). Commonest presenting symptom was breast lump accounting for 85.9%. Invasive ductal carcinoma NOS was seen in 84.9%. Stage I, II, III and IV accounted for 4.7%, 31.3%,33.3% and 27.1% respectively. ER, PR, HER2 positivity was noted in 72.4%, 64.6% and 13.5% respectively. Fifty one percent had upfront surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy while neoadjuvant chemotherapy was required in 8.9%. Chemotherapy regimen given was as per institutional protocol. Survival data of 152 patients was analyzed. At a median follow up of 25 months the EFS was 100%, 78%, 67.3%, 78.3% and the estimated median EFS was not reached,139, 48 & 24 months in stage I, II, III and IV respectively. The Overall survival (OS) was 100%, 96.1%, 91.8% & 78.3% for Stage I, II, III and IV respectively and the median OS was not reached. Median EFS (estimated) was 96 and 48 months for node negative and positive patients respectively.
This is one of the largest series of male breast cancers reported to date. Due to paucity of quality evidence the outcomes and survival remain suboptimal in comparison to their female counterparts. This difference is more evident in middle and low-income countries pertaining to factors like social stigma and lack of awareness. Current study provides useful information regarding the demography, natural history, treatment response and survival outcomes of male breast cancers.
The authors.
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All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.