Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Dec 14;59(12):2167.
doi: 10.3390/medicina59122167.

Aggressive Male Breast Cancer-Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects Correlated with the Histopathological Examination: A Case Report and Literature Review

Ana-Maria Petrescu  1   2 , Nicolae-Daniel Pirici  3 , Anca-Ileana Ruxanda  2   4 , Liviu Vasile  2   4 , Mircea Pîrșcoveanu  2   4 , Ștefan Paitici  2   4 , Gabriel-Sebastian Petrescu  5 , Alexandru Claudiu Munteanu  2   4 , Ramona-Andreea Matei  1 , Daniel Dumitrache  2 , Andreas Donoiu  1   2 , Stelian-Ștefăniță Mogoantă  2   4
Affiliations
Review

Aggressive Male Breast Cancer-Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects Correlated with the Histopathological Examination: A Case Report and Literature Review

Ana-Maria Petrescu et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Breast cancer is often seen as a disease that occurs in women, but it can also appear in men in a very small percentage, below 1%. Men have a minimal amount of breast tissue compared to women, which has the potential to become malignant in a similar way to women, although much less frequently. A patient presented with advanced local invasion due to the low amount of breast tissue, with the tumor quickly invading the adjacent structures. Histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations have an extremely important role in the pathology of breast cancer. Given that male breast cancer is rare and there are not enough surgeons specializing in breast surgery in our country, there is a lack of experience in the management and early diagnosis of this type of cancer, which will be highlighted in this article.

Keywords: histopathological examination; immunohistochemical reactions; male breast cancer; treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Appearance before starting neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Preoperative image of the patient’s right breast after chemotherapy, with the presence of nipple retraction and erythematous periareolar skin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Image of pectoralis major muscle after its partial resection and right mastectomy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Image of the axilla after lymphadenectomy level I, II and level III axillary sampling.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Image of retropectoral dissection and multiple adenopathic blocks that encased the axillary vein.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Image of the three split skins used for closure of skin’s defect.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Image of the mastectomy piece, covered by skin, with the presence of nipple retraction and axillary adipose tissue.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The posterior face of the resection piece with the presence of a 3 cm pill of the pectoralis major muscle.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Image of a general solid pattern of the tumor with some infiltrative elements (HE staining, ×20).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) with an intense apical expression (immunolabeling with anti-EMA antibody, ×40).
Figure 11
Figure 11
ER intensely positive (immunolabeling with anti-ER antibody, ×20).
Figure 12
Figure 12
PR intensely positive (immunolabeling with anti-PR antibody, ×20).
Figure 13
Figure 13
Very rare membrane HER2 elements, score 0 (immunolabeling with anti-c-erbB-2 antibody, ×40).
Figure 14
Figure 14
Tumor cells with low IHC reaction to anti-Ki67 antibody (immunolabeling with anti-Ki67 antibody, ×20).
Figure 15
Figure 15
E-cadherin expression maintained in the infiltrative areas (immunolabeling with anti-E-cadherin antibody, ×20).
Figure 16
Figure 16
E-cadherin expression decreased in a solid area (immunolabeling with anti-E-cadherin antibody, ×20).
Figure 17
Figure 17
E-cadherin expression preserved in another solid area (immunolabeling with anti-E-cadherin antibody, ×20).
Figure 18
Figure 18
Neural invasion (HE staining, ×40).
Figure 19
Figure 19
Suspicion of emboli in the vessels before immunohistochemistry for CD34 (HE staining, ×40).
Figure 20
Figure 20
The presence of emboli at the level of small vessels (immunolabeling with anti-CD34 antibody, ×20).
Figure 21
Figure 21
Appearance of the prepectoral area two months postoperatively.
Figure 22
Figure 22
Appearance of the prepectoral area nine months postoperatively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Korde L.A., Zujewski J.A., Kamin L., Giordano S., Domchek S., Anderson W.F., Bartlett J.M., Gelmon K., Nahleh Z., Bergh J., et al. Multidisciplinary meeting on male breast can—cer: Summary and research recommendations. J. Clin. Oncol. 2010;28:2114–2122. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2009.25.5729. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jemal A., Siegel R., Ward E., Hao Y., Xu J., Thun M.J. Cancer statistics, 2009. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2009;59:225–249. doi: 10.3322/caac.20006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Darkeh M., Azavedo E. Male Breast Cancer Clinical Features, Risk Factors, and Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches. Int. J. Clin. Med. 2014;5:1068–1086. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2014.517138. - DOI
    1. Sosa A., Espinoza S., Aguilar R., Palencia R. Male Breast Cancer: Case Report. Rev. Colomb. Radiol. 2017;28:4810–4815.
    1. Pritzlaff M., Summerour P., McFarland R., Li S., Reineke P., Dolinsky J.S., Goldgar D.E., Shimelis H., Couch F.J., Chao E.C., et al. Male breast cancer in a multi-gene panel testing cohort: Insights and unexpected results. Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 2017;161:575–586. doi: 10.1007/s10549-016-4085-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed