[Treatment of breast cancer in males]

Breast cancer is an unusual disease in males. We report the treatment results in 12 male patients with breast cancer and without distant metastases at the moment of diagnosis, treated between 1978 and 1993. All were subjected to surgical resection and radiotherapy; chemotherapy was not used. In four patients with local lymph node involvement, tamoxifen was used. Clinical staging at the moment of diagnosis was stage I in one patient, stage II in seven and stage III in four. Subjects were followed for a mean of 67 months and a median of 56 months. Local control of the tumour was achieved in 100% of patients and five years survival was 90%. Two patients presented with distant metastases at nine and 106 months of follow up. It is concluded that breast cancer in men has a similar survival rate than in women.