A Report Of 3 Male Breast Cancer Cases And A Review Of Literatures

BACKGROUND & AIM: Male breast cancer is a rare disease with causes that are incompletely characterized and understood. Mortality rates in Europe have remained fairly stable for many years, but recent results from the USA indicate a climb in incidence. With the clinical cases, this article has explored the epidemiology, the clinical characteristics, the treatment and the prognosis factors of male breast cancer. MATERIAL & METHODS: The clinical data of 3 cases of male breast cancer, from Jan 2002 to Dec 2006, were reviewed and analyzed retrospectively, which were from the 2^nd affiliated hospital of Zhejiang University. All cases were diagnosed by pathological examination after surgery. All patients were followed up. And the literatures were reviewed. RESULT & CONCLUSIONS: Male breast cancer has a low incidence rate, about 1% of all the patients with breast cancer. It peaks at age 71 years, and excess alcohol would increase the risk. Presentation is usually a lump or nipple inversion, but is often late, with more than 40% of individuals having stage III or IV disease. In most cases diagnosis is made by clinical assessment, mammography or ultrasonography, and fine-needle aspiration cytology or core biopsy. Most tumors are ductal and 10% are ductal carcinoma in situ. Surgery is usually mastectomy with axillary clearance or sentinel node biopsy. Indications for radiotherapy, by stage, are similar to female breast cancer Because 90% of tumors are oestrogen-receptor-positive, tamoxifen is standard adjuvant therapy, but some individuals could also benefit from chemotherapy. Age, tumor size, and the lymph node metastasis may be prognosis factors of male breast cancer. Men diagnosed with breast cancer are at high risk of second primary cancer. Early discovery, early diagnosis and early therapy should be the key to improve the prognosis of males with breast cancer.