Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation in male breast cancer: Experience from a tertiary cancer center

Male breast cancers (MBC) account for 1% of all breast cancers. Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation (CTRT) is not the standard of care for treating breast cancer. However, in our center, it has been routinely used in patients with locally advanced breast cancer to downsize the tumor and make it amenable to surgery.

This study was conducted to examine the clinical and pathological profile and outcomes of patients with MBC treated at our institute with neoadjuvant CTRT.

The study was conducted at a tertiary cancer center and was retrospective in nature.

All MBC patients treated with neoadjuvant CTRT at our center between 2001 and 2016 were enrolled in the study. Data were retrospectively extracted from the patients' case records.

Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis and the outcome variables were compared using the log-rank test.

Thirty-one MBC patients who received neoadjuvant CTRT were analyzed in this study. The median age of the patients was 53 years. Stage IIB disease was observed in 8/31 (26%) patients, stage III in 20/31 (64%), and stage IV in 3/31 (10%) patients. There was no grade 3 or 4 toxicity due to CTRT. Surgery was performed in 29/31 (94%) patients and none of the patients had a pathological complete response. The median duration of follow-up was 95.3 months. The 8-year event-free survival and overall survival for stage IIB, III, and IV were 75%, 50%, and 0% and 87.5%, 69%, and 0%, respectively.

This is the first study to report on the use of neoadjuvant CTRT in MBC. Prospective evidence from phase-3 randomized controlled trials on the safety and efficacy of CTRT in breast cancer is required before its routine use can be recommended.