Thirty-year experience of surgery for breast carcinoma in men

Abstract

Objective: To present the long-term outcome after surgery for breast carcinoma in men.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: University Hospital, Switzerland.

Subjects: 37 consecutive men who were operated on for breast carcinoma between 1968 and 1998.

Results: The mean age was 67 years (range 41-89). The delay between the first clinical presentation and operation ranged from 1 month to 3 years (median 3.5 months). Operations included modified radical mastectomy (n = 19), radical mastectomy (n = 12), simple mastectomy (n = 3), Halsted procedure (n = 1), and conservative resection (n = 1). One patient had only a biopsy and was excluded from survival analysis. There were 30 infiltrating ductal carcinomas, 4 in situ ductal carcinomas, 2 papillary carcinomas, and 1 adenoid cystic carcinoma. Most tumors (n = 25, 68%) were in the subareolar region. The overall survival at 10 years was 44%, but it was significantly influenced by the stage of disease, ranging from 57% in stage I (n = 12), to 26% in stage II (n = 15), and 0 in stage III (n = 8).

Conclusion: Although the long term survival in stage I and II is similar in men and women, the rarity of breast carcinoma in men and its location in the subareolar region may delay diagnosis and treatment.