Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients with Male Breast Cancer, Single-Center Experience

OBJECTIVE Male breast cancer (BC) represents <1% of all BC cases. Our study aimed to define immunohistochemistry (IHC) based surrogate subtype distribution of male BCs, and to define the recurrence pattern and survival among subgroups. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with male BC admitted to Ege University School of Medicine, Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology Clinics between 1998 and 2017. Patient demographics, pathological feature of the primary tumor, adjuvant treatment options, and survival data were analyzed. We defined intrinsic BC subtypes according to estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER-2, and ki-67 status. RESULTS We identified 58 patients with male BC. The median age at diagnosis was 59 years (IQR: 30-78), and median follow-up was 83.7 months. Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histology (79.3%). Of the patients, 8.6% presented with stage-4 disease. A total of 24 (41.4%) patients had luminal A-like, 28 (48.3%) had luminal B-like, 2 (3.4%) had HER-2 positive, and 4 (6.9%) had triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Eighteen deaths were observed during follow-up. The overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates among BC subgroups were not statistically significant. Median OS was 161 months (95% CI 94.7-228.4)in the patient group. DES was statistically related to initial tumor stage. CONCLUSION The disease onset was found at younger age with more locally advanced setting compared to literature. Luminal predominance was demonstrated. Initial stage but not BC subtypes predict the risk of relapse in patients with male BC.