A practical approach to guide clinicians in the evaluation of male patients with breast masses

Breast cancer must be considered in the evaluation of breast masses in men, although various benign causes are more common, including gynecomastia and conditions of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. A patient's history may identify key features suspicious for malignancy or reassuring for benign disease. Physical examination has been documented to be as effective as mammography in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions, and both have been reported as highly accurate for the identification of malignancy. Mammography is therefore best used when the physical examination findings are indeterminate. Ultrasonography may be used as an adjunct to mammography; no evidence supports the use of magnetic resonance imaging in male breast patients. If clinical or mammographic features are suspicious or indeterminate for malignancy, tissue diagnosis is warranted and may be achieved surgically or via core-needle biopsy or fine-needle aspiration cytology. Given the lack of uniformity in the clinical recommendations for the evaluation of breast masses in men, a practical approach is proposed.