Prognosis in carcinoma of the male breast

A series of 29 cases of carcinoma of the male breast in Finland is reviewed. The purpose was to analyze the long-term results and establish which factors could have influenced the prognosis. The five-year and ten-year survival rates were 44 and 32%, respectively when deaths from all causes were included in the calculations. When only deaths from carcinoma were taken into account, these figures rose to 65 and 47%. The results of treatment agreed well with those reported by other authors. The pre-diagnosis duration of symptoms, invasiveness of carcinoma into the skin, involvement of axillary nodes and pathologic stage of the tumor seemed to have considerable influence on the prognosis in male breast carcinoma.