Source: Epilepsy Curr  |  Posted 5 years ago

By Crystal Phend

LAS VEGAS, N.V. -- May 1, 2006 -- Breast cancer in men is more likely to be hormone receptor positive than previously recognized and should be treated like similar cancers in women, researchers said here at the annual American Society of Breast Disease (ASBD) annual meeting.

"You shouldn't deviate and treat males different than females," said presenting author Christine Laronga, MD, associate professor of surgery, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, United States, in a presentation April 28[^]th[].

In the retrospective study, researchers reviewed charts for 28 men with breast cancer treated at Eastern Virginia Medical School between 1991 and 2005. Their cancer characteristics were compared to data from 28 men treated at the center from 1972 to 1991.

The only significant variable between groups was estrogen receptor status. All the men in the recent cohort had estrogen receptor positive tumors compared to 70% in the earlier cohort. This "may have important implications for the newer hormonal therapies," Dr. Laronga said.

In the earlier cohort, 21 patients had invasive ductal carcinoma, 2 had invasive papilloma, 2 had unspecified adenocarcinoma, 1 had Paget's disease, and 1 had mucinous adenocarcinoma.

With the exception of 1 patient with ductal carcinoma in situ, all the men in the recent cohort were diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. One of these patients also had Paget's disease.

Mean age at presentation was about 64 years in both groups. The incidence of progesterone positive breast cancer was similar between groups at 75% in the earlier cohort and 80% in the recent cohort. Survival was not significantly different between groups (52 months for the earlier group versus 46.5 months for the recent group).

Radical mastectomy was significantly more common in the earlier group (4 cases versus none), but there was a trend toward more simple mastectomies in the recent cohort (1 case versus 6). Modified radical mastectomy was the most common treatment for men in both (21 in the recent group compared to 18 in the recent group).

"Radical mastectomy is no longer a standard treatment modality for male breast cancer," Dr. Laronga said.

Two patients in the recent cohort had sentinel node sampling during surgery, while none did in the earlier cohort.

"Sentinel lymph node dissection is underutilized," Dr. Laronga said.

[Presentation title: Changes in Male Breast Cancer: A 30-Year Review. Poster 1-13]